Violent Crime Reduction Bill

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for calling me to participate in this important debate. First, I want to put on record my congratulations to the hon. Member for Stourbridge (Lynda Waltho) and to my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, Southgate (Mr. Burrowes) on their excellent maiden speeches, which were well delivered and enjoyable to listen to. While broadly welcoming the Bill as a whole, I am worried that there is an over-reliance on control measures, which do little to tackle the deep-seated cultural challenge of alcohol abuse among young people. As a nation, we work hard and play hard and, as a result, our night-time economy is booming. We have heard much in this afternoon’s debate about the vast profits being made by some bars and clubs, but let us not forget the number of jobs created by those establishments, or that this is a legitimate business sector. The question was raised earlier how anyone could possibly enjoy themselves at these pubs and clubs, but with all due respect to the hon. Member for Northampton, North (Ms Keeble), that is not a relevant question for the House. The fact remains that in almost every town centre on any Friday or Saturday night throughout the year, crowds of loud excited young people can be seen having a good time enjoying each other’s company. The dark side, however, that merges so seamlessly with the positive side is the nuisance caused to residents by noise; the violence that sees young men being kicked unconscious in street fights; abusive men who go home drunk and punch their wives or girlfriends; and injuries sustained by drunk people through pranks and accidents. It includes vandalism and criminal damage; shop windows broken; urine and vomit in doorways; and the fear and intimidation that so easily engulfs a town centre when, to use the popular phrase, ““trouble kicks off””. Unfortunately, the Government’s response has been to pursue a long list of tough-sounding, headline-grabbing proposals intended to show that something is being done. That is why, as well as CCTV, we have ASBOs, a proposal to march drunken yobs to cashpoints, fixed penalty notices, drink banning orders, dispersal orders, alcohol disorder zones and—the latest, according to one of the broadsheets yesterday—the idea of deploying the Army on the streets this summer. It is all about control, control, control—and I do not believe that it will work. We will not tackle the binge drink culture in this country by imposing martial law on our town centres at night. Before throwing more legislation on the statute book, should we not instead be looking into renewed enforcement of existing laws? During the numerous nights that I have spent out with my local police force, not one police officer has told me that there were not enough sanctions available to enable them to tackle alcohol-related disorder. Without revisiting the arguments of the general election, I believe that we need an increase in police numbers and a renewed vigour in using legislation that is already in place. For example, local police officers told me directly that they simply do not have the manpower to start arresting everyone who is drunk and disorderly at the weekend. The time and labour required to process any such arrests would divert vital resources away from what they regard as the hotspots at the worst possible time in the evening. That may be one of the principal reasons behind the long-term fall in convictions for drunk and disorderly behaviour across the country. As one officer told me during a recent night shift spent monitoring Haverfordwest town centre at pub closing time, the best that current resources allow is for the police to ““keep the lid”” on the problem of binge drink disorder. Until we get to grips with the serious cultural issues that lie behind that behaviour, we will just carry on as a society throwing ever larger sums of money at enforcement and control just to keep a lid on it. The problem in this country stems from the fact that we have a culture where alcohol abuse is tolerated. In fact, in so many areas of popular culture, drinking—even drunkenness—is celebrated and joked about. That is one of the reasons why we are losing the war on alcohol abuse among young people. The fact is—so many studies have confirmed it—that youngsters are being exposed to alcohol at an ever younger age and are drinking more in terms of units and more frequently. According to Alcohol Concern, by the age of 13, young people who drink alcohol already outnumber those who do not. That comes as no surprise in view of the findings of Professor Paul Willner of the university of Wales, Swansea. His research showed that 16-year-old boys and girls as young as 13 now have little difficulty in buying alcohol from a variety of vendors. The hon. Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy (Mr. Llwyd) was right to raise the issue of the sale of alcohol to minors. I await an answer to my written question on conviction rates for off-licences and stores that sell alcohol to young people. The World Health Organisation’s European charter on alcohol, to which the UK is a signatory, states:"““All children and adolescents have the right to grow up in an environment protected from the negative consequences of alcohol consumption and, to the extent possible, from the promotion of alcoholic beverages.””" I should welcome the Minister’s thoughts on how well she believes the Government are discharging their responsibilities under that charter. I hope that I shall be proved wrong, but part 1 seems to provide nothing more than a sticking plaster over our deep-seated problems of youth alcohol abuse. We await further details and further delivery of the Government’s alcohol harm reduction strategy, and I look forward to more proposals in the coming months to add to the Bill’s provisions.