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Criminal Law (Amendment) (Protection of Property) Bill

I would simply say that on a Friday there is a free vote. Hon. Members are entitled to have their own views. I disagree with the position of my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) and my hon. Friend the Member for Vauxhall (Kate Hoey) on this issue, as I have on a number of other private Members’ Bills and Government Bills. One of the consequences of whipping on the previous occasion was that I was not able to make my speech on the Bill introduced by the hon. Member for Newark. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Vale of York for giving me the opportunity to explain my views on the issue. I shall be as brief as I can, concomitant with my duty to the House, and to the public, to ensure that the Bill is properly scrutinised on Second Reading. The right hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Mr. Forth) is not in his place at the moment but I am sure he would expect nothing less of me, bearing in mind his views on the importance of parliamentary scrutiny, particularly of private Members’ Bills.