Part of Criminal Justice and Police Bill – in the House of Commons at 2:00 pm on 10 May 2001.
Oliver Heald
Shadow Spokesperson (Home Affairs)
2:00,
10 May 2001
The amendments were tabled in Committee in this House and in the other place, and I am delighted that they appear on the Amendment paper today.
Those who keep public houses and licensed premises--the industry--accept that it may well be necessary to close rowdy premises at short notice. However, they were particularly concerned that that might happen when the likely disturbance or the disturbance occurring in the vicinity of the premises had nothing to do with their particular premises. A police officer might therefore believe that there would be trouble in an area and close the public house when its activities did not merit it.
The scope of the original wording was too wide to catch the badly run houses that cause serious disorder problems and put public safety at risk. We therefore welcome the fact that the Minister is prepared to accept the view of Another place that the wording should be narrowed to relate the disorder that is in prospect, or that has occurred, to the premises.
I believe that the Minister made a vow not to mention the Committee stage and it was therefore a pity that he broke it. I defend Miss Widdecombe, who did not act disgracefully. She took all the measures that were available to her to deal with circumstances in which democracy was at risk.
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