My Lords, perhaps I may just detain the House a little longer to mark the end of this Bill’s passage through your Lordships’ House. It has been a big Bill, with much scrutiny across no fewer than 11 days of Committee; and six days on Report has added to its size. During this time, we have added some important new measures to the Bill, including to further tackle violence against women and girls. Noble Lords have also made a few changes to the Bill, against the advice of the Government. It will now be for the House of Commons to consider those amendments, and we will no doubt be debating them again soon.
I reiterate the Government’s disappointment at the removal of some very important measures, the aim of which was to prevent a repeat of the scenes we saw last year, with people blocking roads, preventing those going about their daily lives from doing so and—yes—preventing essential services such as ambulances getting through to hospitals. The public demanded that the Government act to stop this serious disruption. We did so, but noble Lords on the Benches opposite decided to block these measures. That will not go unnoticed by the public.
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Notwithstanding that, I want to take this opportunity to recognise the contributions of those who have supported me in steering this Bill through the House. I pay particular tribute to my noble and learned friend Lord Stewart of Dirleton and my noble friends Lord Wolfson of Tredegar, Lord Sharpe of Epsom and Lady Scott of Bybrook for sharing the load on the Front Bench. We have been ably supported by the joint Bill team in the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice, and by numerous officials and lawyers not only in those two departments but in the Department for Transport, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Department for Education and Defra. On behalf of myself and my ministerial colleagues, I extend our thanks and appreciation to all of them for their professionalism and understanding over these past months.
I single out for particular thanks Charles Goldie, who is well known in the Home Office parish; I have almost lost count of the number of Bills that he has supported me on to date. I also thank Katie Dougal, Alice Harrison, Becky Martin and, of course, our private officers, who sit day and night while we debate these matters.
I also thank the Front Bench opposite for their engagement on the Bill, accepting that there have been some areas of disagreement between us. The noble Lords, Lord Rosser, Lord Coaker, Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede and Lord Kennedy of Southwark—and, in the early stages, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, together with the noble Baroness, Lady Chapman of Darlington—have at times, including today, made points and have been open to helpful discussions to resolve issues where we can.
I single out the noble and learned Lord, Lord Judge, for praise for being able to articulate in a sentence some very complex points.
Similarly, I thank the noble Lords, Lord Paddick and Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames, who have been very active during the course of the many weeks we have been engaged on this Bill. Again, I recognise that there have been, and continue to be, some areas of disagreement between us.
Given its wide scope, many other noble Lords have also contributed to the many hours of debate on this Bill. There are too many to mention now but, again, I extend my thanks to all noble Lords for their scrutiny of this important Bill. There should be no doubt about the merits of this Bill’s ultimate objective, namely keeping the public and our communities safe. On that note, I beg to move that the pill—pill? I think maybe I need a pill at this stage—the Bill do now pass.