Title
Crime and Security Bill
7:00 pm
David Hanson (Minister of State (Crime and Policing), Home Office; Delyn, Labour)
Mr. Cook, on behalf of the Government and the Committee, may I thank you and your co-Chairman, Sir Nicholas, for your patience in chairing the Committee? I also thank Mr. Sandall and his team of Clerks, our Hansard colleagues, our badge messengers and the police for their support.
I thank the Opposition for their constructive approach to the Committee. We have accepted some of their amendments in principle and will return to them. I also thank my hon. Friends for their patience, for their occasional contributions and, most of all, for their votes? I offer everybody my best wishes.
Some hon. Members know that this will be their last Committee before the general election, and I wish them Godspeed for the future in their new and successful careers post-Parliament.
James Brokenshire (- Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Hornchurch, Conservative)
May I add my thanks for your chairmanship of the Committee, Mr. Cook? Would you also pass on my thanks to your co-Chairman, Sir Nicholas Winterton?
James Brokenshire (- Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Hornchurch, Conservative)
This has been a constructive Committee. Although we will continue the debate on DNA and other contentious provisions, I hope that we have made this a better Bill as a consequence of the way in which the Committee has been conducted.
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Romford for his sterling support on the Front Bench, and our excellent Whip, my hon. Friend the Member for West Chelmsford. I also thank my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham and my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury for their strong support from the Back Benches.
May I also pass on our thanks to the officials, the Clerks and the Hansard reporters, and to the doorkeepers and the police for keeping us safe? As the Minister has said, this may well be the last Committee for some. I wish everyone Godspeed in whatever direction we may take.
Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington, Liberal Democrat)
I realise how popular I would be at this point if I spoke at great length to thank everyone who has participated in the Committee. Instead, I shall simply echo the points made by the Minister of State and by the spokesman for the official Opposition. My thanks to you, Mr. Cook, and to all who have participated.
David Hanson (Minister of State (Crime and Policing), Home Office; Delyn, Labour)
Finally, Mr. Cook, may I thank the people most important to the Bill, namely the officials who have helped to prepare it and who have worked on it? I missed them out in my rush to complete my remarks before a Division in the House. They have been crucial to our success.