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Criminal Law (Amendment) (Protection of Property) Bill

My hon. Friend is right about that and I intend to expand on the point in a few moments. I was making a point about burglary in respect of a dwelling. The law already recognises a distinction whereby burglary from a dwelling is a more serious offence. Those who commit such offences are subject to much more serious penalties under the law. It is regrettable that the original formulation proposed by the hon. Member for Newark has not been maintained in the present Bill, which attempts to stretch it way beyond what was initially intended—perhaps beyond what was intended by the people who voted in the listeners’ poll on the ““Today”” programme. That is a problem not helped by the additional anomalies in the Bill. Reference was made earlier to the Oklahoma law, which it is important to look further into, particularly in respect of what happened as a consequence of that law. It provides an object lesson in what might happen here if the Bill were to find favour with the House.