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Human Rights

The hon. Gentleman is a profound defender of the right of free speech, and he has made his point. The Government made some arguments in their response—for example, on people with disabilities—but having someone arrested for calling a police horse "gay" is ludicrous. Perhaps the police need better guidance, at the very least, on the use of law. The issue will continue to be debated, and needs to be. The police have a difficult job in handling major public order incidents, often involving quick decisions aimed at protecting lives and property. By and large, they do an excellent job in balancing the competing rights of protesters, those protested against, journalists, bystanders and others, although as the G20 protests demonstrated individual protests can raise significant concerns. We have aimed to assist the police by ensuring that they police protests in accordance with human rights. We are confident that the Government and the police now share our objective, based on a return to the British model of policing, including the minimum use of force. I believe that the police have already taken on board some of the lessons, based on the different approach to the climate camp last summer at Blackheath. We believe that the main issue is that the guidance and training available to police forces, commanders and officers have not taken sufficient account of human rights. Inconsistency between forces, some of which are ill-equipped to deal with major public order issues because of their small size, is also an issue. I hope that our successor Committee in the new Parliament will scrutinise action by the Government and ACPO to ensure that these problems are overcome. Police accountability is also a major issue. Politicians should not influence operational decisions by police officers, but we were struck by the fact that clearly expressed ministerial views on how legislation, such as counter-terrorism powers, should be implemented did not appear to be influencing police action on the ground. A bigger role is being given to ACPO to ensure that police forces follow national guidance. We need to look closely at ACPO's developing role as a national policing agency and accountability mechanism, in what can be a specialist area of policing. We have seen a clear commitment from the Government, ACPO, the police and all concerned to learn the lessons of what happened at G20 and earlier demonstrations. The real question is whether that commitment can be changed from a commitment in principle to different methods of policing when difficult demonstrations occur.