Squatting

HC Deb 10 March 1994 vol 239 cc392-3

14. Mr. Dunn

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what further plans he has in respect of squatting; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Maclean

The Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill contains provisions that will reinforce a new civil procedure for removing squatters from premises. In addition, I have tabled amendments to the Bill which will increase the protection given by the Criminal Law Act 1977 to displaced residential occupiers and protect intending occupiers of property that is unlawfully occupied.

Mr. Dunn

What opposition has the Minister encountered to changes in the law on squatting and how does he intend to overcome it?

Mr. Maclean

The welcome from the Opposition was less than enthusiastic and wholehearted, as we might have expected.

Madam Speaker

Order. Just a word of caution, which I have uttered before. Committees of the House are autonomous. They do their work upstairs, and only when the results of their deliberations are reported to the House are these matters discussed on the Floor. I remind Back Benchers of that, but it seems that Ministers, too, need occasional reminding.

Mr. Gerrard

Does the Minister really believe that his proposal to allow landlords to use violence for the purpose of evicting people will aid law and order? Will he accept responsibility when someone, whether a bailiff, a squatter or a tenant being illegally evicted, is seriously injured or killed as a direct result of his legislation?

Mr. Maclean

The House will find it quite unacceptable that, at present, a person whose house has been stolen by squatters cannot even break the window of the back door to get into his own premises, as such action is considered to be violence. That is nonsense, which we are removing.

Mr. Hendry

Does my hon. Friend agree that, in tackling squatting, prevention is better than cure? Is not it the case that inept, inefficient and incompetent Labour authorities up and down the country are sitting on tens of thousands of empty council houses and that if those houses were made available to tenants they would not be available for squatting?

Mr. Maclean

That is certainly the case, but it is not acceptable that, just because of some incompetent Labour authorities that have thousands of empty properties, other people whose houses are taken over should not have a right to get them back.