Crime and Security Bill

I rise to give almost unqualified support to the Bill. Given the list of measures for which the Government seek powers I find it strange that the Opposition have deserted their traditional role on law and order. I thought that my right hon. Friend the Minister for Policing, Crime and Counter-Terrorism was already reaching across to the Opposition in the spirit of compromise when he said that the measures would be supported strongly by our voters around the country. The list that he read out will probably be supported even more strongly by Tory voters than by Labour voters, so if the Opposition wish to play funny things with the Bill, the electorate will have that very fresh in their minds when they come to vote, we hope, in May. I said that I am giving the Bill almost unqualified support because I am bearing in mind the fact that I cannot speak to measures that are not in it. I had hoped that there would be a further adjustment in the criminal injuries compensation measures in the Bill, which my right hon. Friend has pointed out is the last crime Bill of this Parliament. I welcome what the Government are doing in extending the measures to people who are on the wicked receiving end of terrorist outrages when they are going about their business or holidaying abroad, but there is a related issue that we cannot settle in their lordships' House and that will not be dealt with in the wash-up period, although I had hoped that it would be, so we will need to return to it some day. I have a constituent who was brutally blown apart by the July bombings in London. Although he, his wife and his family are given measured support under the existing scheme, there is a cap of £250,000 on the scheme. I am talking about someone whose bravery is beyond description. His legs were blown away, and his life and the lives of his wife and family have changed in a way that is difficult for us even to contemplate. The current scheme, welcome as it is, has a cap, and there is no way that we can put my constituent's life nearly back to what it was before those wicked bombers detonated those bombs, so affecting him and many other of our constituents from around the country, but particularly from London. I hope that we can get an undertaking from the Government that when the Bill is properly discussed in the other place—we have quite a lot of time before the election will be called—the Government will consider the proposals to raise the cap to £2 million, as well as the proposals that were previously put to my right hon. Friend the then Home Secretary, who is now the Justice Secretary, about how that small but important increase could be met through our national insurance scheme. I am not part of the campaign that thinks that we can propose measures without saying where the money should come from. So it is with nearly good heart that I support the Bill tonight. It addresses a huge number of issues on which our constituents are grateful that the Government have, practically in each year of this Parliament, listened to them and weighed in on their behalf against people who do bad deeds in our communities and across the country. My only regret is that although I have welcomed all those other measures, I cannot welcome the Bill wholeheartedly because there is one gap in it. It was the one issue of substance which, for very good reasons, we did not have time to debate on the Floor of the House. I hope that it will be debated properly in the other Chamber, and I hope that when it comes to the other place, the Government will look seriously at the amendments that I tabled, but which could not be called this evening.