British Board of Film Classification (Accountability to Parliament and Appeals) Bill

The hon. Gentleman and I can trade statistics all day long and it will not take us any further forward from the comment I made earlier, which I stick by, and which his figures do not disprove: the majority of people were happy with the current arrangements with regard to sex, violence, language and drugs. I am not denying that a significant minority expressed a different view—the figures are very clear. He read out the figure for violence, but only 30 per cent. of those consulted thought that the guidelines were not strict enough on sex; on language use the figure was 43 per cent.; and on the portrayal of drugs 43 per cent. However, 58 per cent. feel that the guidelines on sex are about right, on violence the figure was 53 per cent., on language 51 per cent., and on drugs 52 per cent. That shows a majority in favour of no change, but I have always acknowledged that this is a difficult issue on which there are mixed views, and that a significant minority is opposed.