Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

I think that the hon. Gentleman has just explained what proportionality means; I thought that we understood that. I do not know why he is surprised at the line that I take, as I have taken it consistently for 10 years in the House, but perhaps he has not yet had the opportunity to study Hansard with sufficient care. The Government are reversing from their previous position, and are saying that there is an issue to address. I do not think that the defect lay in the law in the first place. I still believe that, with one exception, which I shall come to, and which concerns the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridge, the law is perfectly competent to deal with the circumstances that we are discussing; it is, on occasion, the investigating and prosecuting authorities who are incompetent, and who misdirect themselves. I have no objection to restating and reinvigorating the law on that point to prevent mischief from occurring, if that is sensible, and that is the line that I have consistently taken when dealing with private Members' Bills on the subject.