§ 20. Mr. Danceasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in view of the fact that there are not totally secure prisons in this country, he will now consider recommending the installation of high-voltage electric fences round the perimeters of Her Majesty's prisons, following the Mountbatten Report.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsNo, Sir. Apart from any other considerations, the hon. Member is under a misapprehension if he thinks this was recommended by Lord Mountbatten.
§ Mr. DanceI suppose we shall have to accept that—but is the right hon. Gentleman aware that it is his own feather-bedding of the criminal classes that has done so much to undermine the morale of police and prison officers and to raise the rate of crime, on his own admission, to an all-time record level?
§ Mr. JenkinsIf the hon. Member wishes to make generalisations on this subject it is a pity, in the first place, that he should have tabled a Question apparently based either upon a misreading or a non-reading of a most important Report and, secondly, that he should have used this to erect something which is entirely unrelated to the general matter.
§ Mr. RoebuckCan my right hon. Friend say whether the number of offences increased or decreased during the period when the Conservative Government were in power?
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. Electric fences are not offences.