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Violent Crime Reduction Bill

Before the noble Lord, Lord Pendry, withdraws his amendment, as I anticipate he will, I should like to make two points. I welcome the Minister’s comments about golf tournaments. As far as I am aware, there have never been such problems but there are substantial crowds at tournaments, often in confined spaces—I know that sounds odd, but the walkways are fairly confined. The stewards are fantastically well trained, which is why things go so well, but obviously responsible bodies do not want to contravene the law. The Open will be taking place towards the end of July, as it always does, and significant numbers of people will be involved. From the point of view of the Front Bench, I welcome the Minister’s constructive comments. We all appreciate that the solution may be found in a context other than this amendment. We certainly give our support to the work that is being done towards that. It is unheard of for a Minister to indicate that Report will be delayed for the right reasons. Normally Ministers hide behind the format of saying, ““It’s all up to the usual channels; it’s nothing to do with us, guv””. I am glad that this is to do with this ““guv””—the Minister—and I look forward to productive negotiations.