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Criminal Law (Amendment) (Protection of Property) Bill

My hon. Friend is right. I shall say a little more about the populist approach, or otherwise, of the Opposition a little later. This is the third Bill that has come before the House on the issue. My hon. Friend the Member for Ealing, North chickened out, rightly, after the poll came out. It was interesting to hear how he wriggled on the ““Today”” programme afterwards to get out of the difficulty. He was got out of the hole by the hon. Member for North Thanet, who introduced his own Bill, the Criminal Justice (Justifiable Conduct) Bill, in 2004. In the last Session of the previous Parliament, that was followed by the Bill introduced by the hon. Member for Newark (Patrick Mercer), the Criminal Law (Amendment) (Household Protection) Bill. He is right in saying that that Bill got a Second Reading but that was only because the Opposition decided to exercise their whip on a Friday, which I regard as a real breach of parliamentary practice. It is a private Members’ day and should not be subject to party political whipping.