Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

I think I deserve my day in court, having been at this for some 20 years, if you do not mind. In their response to the Select Committee, the Government said that it was, "““unclear whether the ECJA in practice really addresses a form of conduct which is not covered by other criminal offences””." But, in the event of an opportunity arising from the reform of the law, they said that they would, "““look … carefully at the case for retaining or updating the ECJA””." In order to be able to do that, it would be necessary to scrutinise individual cases to see whether the conduct in question was or could have been dealt with under other legislation. Having given that undertaking, I hope that the Government will produce that analysis now for the benefit of the Committee. When we have discussed these matters in the past, those who want to retain the ECJA have said that there were cases where a church was desecrated without a person other than the offender being present, which is an essential ingredient of Sections 4 and 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, without which a prosecution could not have taken place. Mr Tolson, of National Churchwatch, who I consulted on this, was not able to give me details of any case since 2002, and none has been reported in the print media to my knowledge. There may have been cases in mosques, but not many are registered under the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855, as they would have had to be for the charge to be used. I hope that the Minister will ultimately agree not only that the ECJA should now be repealed but that, given this opportunity, the other minor offences which are hardly if ever used should also be repealed.