Football (Disorder) Bill

Part of Opposition Day – in the House of Commons at 9:45 pm on 13 July 2000.

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Photo of Simon Hughes Simon Hughes Shadow Spokesperson (Home Affairs) 9:45, 13 July 2000

I will in two seconds, because the hon. Gentleman has certainly been persistent.

There is a direction not just to ask a question, but to stop, to arrest and to keep the person there, so that the purpose of that person going out of that port—to go to Bruges to watch a match—is gone; 24 hours later, the match might well have happened and the ticket and travel money and everything else would have been wasted.

What can the person arrested do about it? What could he have done about it? How could he have avoided being in that position? He does not have a previous conviction; he has not done anything wrong. He is not doing anything that he thinks is wrong, yet he finds himself with his civil liberty summarily—to be fair to the Bill, it states "Summary measures: detention"—denied.