---

Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants Etc.) Bill

I warmly congratulate the hon. Gentleman. The House will be diminished by the loss of his charm, his courtesy, which is unfailing, and his wisdom. We all wish him well after the election. My private Member's Bill, which became the Confiscation of Alcohol (Young Persons) Act 1997, gave the police powers and is the most used criminal law in the land now, apart from the road traffic laws. Can the hon. Gentleman confirm whether clause 1(1) of his Bill giving the tenant protection against immediate eviction will relate not just to the conventional mortgage repossession proceedings, but to individual proceedings taken by the lender against the tenant who is, in effect, a trespasser against the landlord? Protection in both those cases is needed.