§ 2.35 p.m.
LORD WINDLESHAMMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government:
- (1) If their attention has been drawn to reports in the Press of a recent case involving illegal gambling;
- (2) Whether they consider that illegal gambling under the guise of ordinary social parties is on the increase; and
- (3) If so, what action, if any, they propose to take in the matter and when.]
§ LORD CHESHAMMy Lords, the case referred to in the noble Lord's Question is no doubt that reported in the Press on January 20. This was a prosecution for malicious damage alleged to have been caused by two men at a party held at a flat in Kensington on December 18. Her Majesty's Government have no recent information about the extent of gaming parties outside the Metropolitan Police District. In that District the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis has no reason to believe that there has been any serious increase in illegal gambling under the guise of ordinary social parties. The police are constantly on the alert for evidence of illegal gaming, and take the necessary action if evidence is forthcoming.
LORD WENDLESHAMMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his reply, although I do not altogether agree with his confidence that illegal gambling is not on the increase. May I ask the noble Lord, as a supplementary question, whether he remembers the view put forward by the police at the time of the 70 Willink Report and the advice given by police representatives who were brought before the Commission, as stated in that Report? And does he also remember the wards of the noble and learned Viscount the Lord Chancellor on December 16 last, in reply to a Question by me on the same subject when he said [OFFICIAL REPORT, Vol. 213 (No. 24), col. 387]:
…I would be prepared to endorse every word he has said about the undesirability of bringing the law into disrepute?My Question was based on the uncertainty of the law on this subject.