Police reform and social responsibility Bill

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point, but he lulls us into thinking that this is a new thing. Was not Tony Blair's summit on knife crime when he was Prime Minister—when he called all the chief constables to No. 10 Downing street to discuss what could be done about that crime—an example of a politician quite rightly reflecting public concern over a type of crime and influencing the police to do something about it? Is that not exactly the same as the power of influence that the police and crime commissioners will have, and is it not a good thing?