Police and Justice Bill

How can I possibly resist the blandishments of my hon. Friend? I can assure all Members that I take the views of chief constables extremely seriously, including those in areas where they have reached the conclusion that larger more strategic forces are the right way forward, because they have the capacity and resilience to cope with major crime, counter-terrorism and public order issues. I am awaiting the final assessments from HMIC for the local force of the hon. Member for Rayleigh, and announcements will be made in due course. I acknowledge his concern, but I query his saying, ““If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”” HMIC’s advice to us has been that the 43 force structure is no longer fit for purpose. Any responsible Government would be negligent if they ignored that advice and did not take steps to ensure that we fix it as far as we possibly can. I was a little disappointed by some of the responses from Conservative Members. I think that they have lacked a bit of courage. Let me commend to them the recent speech on police reform by the right hon. Member for Witney (Mr. Cameron), who said:"““the Conservative Party I lead will not flinch from saying what needs to be said, and doing what needs to be done . . . Unless we have the courage and the determination to pursue radical police reform, we will never build the safer communities we all want to see.””" The hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Nick Herbert) talked about the royal commission that lasted two years and was followed by a further period of implementation. If we wait for four years to do anything about police reform, we will not be taking the radical steps that we need to make a difference. I say this to hon. Members: have courage, be prepared to reform, and do not cleave to the old ways that are not serving our communities as we want them to be served. We need to strengthen neighbourhood policing. The Bill will put in place structures, accountability mechanisms, devolution and involvement of local communities to enable us to do exactly that, while providing us with forces that are able to protect our communities against the threats from serious and organised crime that will unfortunately grow in future. I hope in Committee to be able to persuade hon. Members from all parties that they can be brave enough to go with radical reform that will drive down crime and give us the kind of policing service that we can continue to be proud of, and which will serve our communities even more effectively in the years to come. I commend the Bill to the House. Question put and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time.