Because the Police Act 1996 will still be on the statute book, so it will still be possible for people to be prosecuted under that Act. All that I am asking for is a common-sense new clause to even up the law. If we got this Bill, which says that the sentence should be up to 12 months, in statute, why on earth would we keep in law an Act that says that the maximum sentence for assaulting a police officer is six months? It makes no sense at all. My new clause would simply ensure that the law is tidied up. It is an inevitable consequence of passing this Bill, and I would hope that it is not particularly controversial, because it is simply about ensuring that the law is sensible. Otherwise we would have two separate laws, both supposedly dealing with the same thing and carrying different maximum sentences, which is the sort of thing that brings the law into disrepute.
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New clause 2 would again mirror the sentencing already in the Bill, but it would also take into account amendment 9, which I will come to later, and its purpose is to increase the sentence available in a Crown court to up to two years. The Police Federation agrees with me that, although the Bill is worthwhile, it would much better for the maximum sentence to be two years rather than 12 months, so I suggested amendments to that effect. I tabled new clause 2 in the hope, rather than the expectation, that amendment 9 would be accepted, and if amendment 9 is accepted, new clause 2 would even up the law. When the Minister comes to sum up, I hope he will accept that new clause 2 is simply a sensible tidying up of the law. It is not designed to provide extra sentencing powers; it would simply ensure that the law is consistent. I hope he will accept it in that spirit.
The fact is that some serious assaults are being charged as an assault against a police officer. I heard of one case in which a police officer lost her finger following an attack by a female defendant, which absolutely should have attracted a higher sentence than the six months available to magistrates. The woman had attacked four other police officers on the same occasion, as well having previously been convicted of multiple previous assaults on police officers, which goes back to the point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for North East Somerset (Mr Rees-Mogg). That may be an under-charging issue, but it is one that we see time and again in the courts.