---

Mental Health Bill [Lords]

We are getting close, I admit, and maybe it is not such a bad idea. However, my point is that an extreme Government might ask clinicians to start detaining people for their cultural, religious or political beliefs. The hon. Member for Daventry (Mr. Boswell) is one of those who has put the other argument—that the amendment does not have to do with UK practice or with the good faith of Ministers or the existing system but with the fact that there have been chilling experiences in other countries, where people have been singled out for mental treatment because their faces did not fit. The points about other countries are probably valid, but we must remember that we are legislating for this country. Given that clinicians have not detained people for their political beliefs for many years, the idea that the advent of an extreme Government will mean that they will suddenly start detaining people under the Mental Health Act is a little difficult to swallow.