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Criminal Law (Amendment) (Protection of Property) Bill

My hon. Friend is right. It is more important that people get adequate crime prevention advice. Protecting one’s property against burglary is one of the best ways of defeating it. For another reason why the Bill defeats its own object one simply has to look at the Bill’s long title. It is called the Criminal Law (Amendment) (Protection of Property) Bill. It is not the Protection of Householders Bill, as I think the previous Bill was entitled, or the Protection of Victims Bill. That gives it away. The Bill is about property, not about people, which is one of its most serious weaknesses. The Bill proposed by the hon. Member for Newark was specifically aimed at trying to help the domestic householder, whereas this Bill is aimed at protecting property.