Policing and Crime Bill

The point of this amendment is to give licensing authorities the duty to take steps to ensure that, where it is necessary, a condition could be imposed in the licence to move from glass to toughened polycarbonate drinking vessels. I have suggested toughened polycarbonate in the amendment, but it could be anything that was not glass and could not be used as a weapon. When I raised this issue in the House before, it was said that licensing authorities already have the power to do this. They certainly may already have the power to do it, but not many are availing themselves of that power. When one talks to the police, for example, as I have done in various areas, they say that one of the things that would make the biggest difference to them in the major trouble spots would be a no-glass rule. This has been further backed up by research from the University of Wales College of Medicine in Cardiff, which shows that thousands of fight injuries could be prevented if clubs served drinks in plastic bottles. The man behind that study is a plastic surgeon, Jon Shepherd, who lobbied Welsh MPs. They have tabled a Motion in the other place, calling for glass bottles to be replaced by safer multi-layered plastic ones. The same argument applies to glasses being used in pubs. It is a terrible comment on society that there is a verb that comes from all this—to glass somebody. It means to smash them in the face with a broken-off glass, thereby causing absolutely horrendous injuries. It is a very small change to require that licensing authorities have a duty to look at this, but I believe that it would add urgency in addressing what is clearly one of the most effective ways to reduce injuries from binge drinking. We have talked this afternoon about the much wider health and crime issues. When either other drinkers or, as in many cases, innocent passers-by are attacked with glass and horrendous fights break out, started by people who are often so drunk that they have no idea what they are doing, we should do as much as we can to remove what clearly becomes a weapon in their hands. I hope we might be able to make this small change. I beg to move.