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Crime and Security Bill

The Government have set great store by the evidence of the Jill Dando Institute, which the Ministry of Justice has again quoted. It stated that""the seriousness of the initial offence cannot predict the seriousness of any potential future offending"." The Home Secretary bases his argument on an intellectually reasonable position, but the logic of what he says is that we should have a national DNA database. We must accept either one side of the argument or the other. We happen to believe that we should protect civil liberties in this country, that there is a balance to be found and that the Scottish system reflects that balance. Of course we need to be robust in the fight against crime, but we also need to be robust in defending the liberties and values that underpin our society. We are not willing to stand idly by while the Government make yet another attempt to force through a scheme that we believe to be wrong for this country. When I debated the Queen's Speech with the Home Secretary in the House back in November, I warned him that our position had not changed and that we would not accept what the Government had proposed. There are things in the Bill that we would otherwise welcome. A Conservative Government would certainly take steps against rogue clampers and seek to do more to combat domestic violence. There are things in the Bill that are meant well. Given the usual Labour baggage that comes with them I am sceptical about whether they will actually make a difference, but they are superficially innocuous. However, the DNA issue is a real point of principle. We will not back the Bill as long as the DNA proposals remain in it. In Committee, on Report and in the other place we will again seek to table amendments that would implement the Scottish system in England and Wales.