§ Mr. Harry Cohen (Leyton)Tens of thousands of families in Britain will have to endure misery, unpleasantness and the fear of racial harassment this Christmas and throughout the year. They will not understand the procedures of the House. We have not discussed racial harassment all year and we have sat through the night but we can allocate only three minutes to debate their plight. They will think that we are ridiculing their plight and that this is a racist Parliament, and they are probably right.
Many cases are horrific and we could have spent the night just talking about them. For example, I am currently dealing with a case involving a single woman with five children who was a victim of a racial attack. The police put her in the cells for four hours. Also, 300 white youths attacked the Loughborough Hindu festival and the police were tardy in arriving to assist. That led to a demonstration by the Hindu community at the police station.
There is also the case of a couple who were refused a transfer after racial harassment because it was said that they had left the country and gone to Arabia for a year. In fact, they lived in Arabia house in Tower Hamlets. That local authority mistake left them to be further harassed.
Police figures show that in 1987 there was a 26 per cent. increase in racial attacks in the metropolitan police area. Racial harassment should be a specific criminal offence. The Government have dilly-dallied too long. They should galvanise the police to make swift responses whenever harassment occurs and to push ahead with prosecutions. I will give the Minister a minute to reply.
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. John Patten)I am extremely grateful to the hon. Member for Leyton (Mr. Cohen) for allowing me a minute.
I hope that the hon. Gentleman did not mean what he said when he accused the House of being racist. He was quite wrong, but these issues must be addressed. He seems to have forgotten the Public Order Act 1986, which has extended the offence of incitement to racial hatred. It is clear that the Government are moving swiftly when and where they can to introduce new measures where possible.
§ Mr. Alistair Darling (Edinburgh, Central)What research has been done into the workings of the 1986 Act and how many prosecutions and successful convictions have been obtained under it? There is a fear that, although the framework is there, it is not being implemented.
§ Mr. PattenI am extremely glad that the hon. Gentleman asked that question. Information available centrally shows that in 1987 there were six prosecutions under sections 18 to 23 of the Act for racial harassment. No information is available for 1988—
§ It being Nine o'clock, the motion for the Adjournment of the House lapsed, without Question put.