HC Deb 10 March 1994 vol 239 cc390-1
11. Mr. Evennett

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his plans to deal with those people who offend while on bail.

12. Mr. Hawkins

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to deal with those people who commit crimes while on bail.

Mr. Howard

We are introducing in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill a series of measures designed to tackle the problem of offending on bail and to improve the bail system more generally.

Mr. Evennett

I thank my right hon. and learned Friend for that reply. Does he agree that most people in the country are fed up with reading about people who offend and commit other crime while out on bail, and they want the Government to take tough action, so they will be grateful for what my right hon. and learned Friend proposes? However, what would be the consequences if the courts were required to consider the defendant's health before recommending putting the defendant in custody? The Labour party believes that that would be a good thing. Many Conservative Members are fearful that fewer people in custody means more trouble for people on the streets of our country.

Mr. Howard

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. The amendment to which he refers is but one of a number tabled by the Labour party which would restrict the powers of the court to refuse bail. It is a remarkable fact that, of those people arrested in the course of the remarkably successful Operation Bumblebee, which has done so much to reduce burglary in London, no fewer than 40 per cent. were on bail. That simply cannot be allowed to continue. That is why we are taking new powers in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill.

Mr. Hawkins

Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that one of the most important steps that we have taken is in the Criminal Justice Act 1993, which made offending on bail an aggravating factor when passing sentence? Does he further agree with the cab driver who brought me back to the House this afternoon, who said that, as a result of the Labour party's inability to support the Government on law and order measures, the least convincing Member of the House, in his view, was the hon. Member for Sedgefield (Mr. Blair)?

Mr. Howard

Out of the mouths of cab drivers comes wisdom of a very high order and I would be the last person to disagree with it.

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