Policing and Crime Bill

My Lords, I hope this speech will not be a self-indulgent meander down memory lane, but the Bill and the amendments of the noble Baroness, Lady Gould, concentrate on Section 2 and Schedule 3 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, in which I take a paternal interest. In 1981 as the Member of Parliament for Soho, I wrote five sides of foolscap in my own hand to the late, great Lord Whitelaw, as he then was not, in his capacity as Home Secretary. I said that there were 164 sex establishments in Soho and that—to abbreviate my argument of long ago—unless the Government did something about it, they would spread throughout the West End, rising first to 264 and then to 364, and central London would be damaged by the expansion. I am told that Home Office officials sought to dissuade their Secretary of State from responding favourably to me because of the inherent complications. However, Section 2 and Schedule 3 of the 1982 Act were the direct consequence of the Home Secretary deciding to agree with me. Of course, the powers were discretionary and not mandatory. The powers were left to the discretion of local authorities to take up if they wished. Many chose not to, perhaps because they simply encouraged the sex trade to enter their areas. Westminster used the powers to great effect in Soho, which became, for at least a decade, massively the beneficiary of tight controls, welcomed by residents and businesses alike. The amendments of the noble Baroness, Lady Gould, seek to make the powers mandatory, as well as to take certain other aspects out of the Bill. I understand her motivation. I have an instinctive hesitation to impose mandatory responsibilities on local authorities, having a personal preference for letting local authorities take the maximum responsibility on their own account, but I recognise that the noble Baroness, Lady Gould, is adducing arguments which would not have applied in 1982. Naturally, I have no ability to consult the late, great Lord Whitelaw, and certainly no proxy to represent his spirit, but his independence of mind in 1982 might have influenced his judgment on the noble Baroness’s issue as well. Finally, paragraph 5(2) of Schedule 3 to the 1983 Act says: ""This Schedule applies to hovercraft as it applies to vessels"." The noble Lord, Lord West, will know better than me whether lap dancing on hovercraft has health and safety implications.