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Mr. Howard: I shall try to allay the hon. Lady's anxieties. In the situation that she envisages, the police officer would tell the woman concerned that she was in an area designated by a senior police officer to enable the police to ask her to stop to be searched. The police officer would tell the woman that if she refused to comply with the request, she would be arrested because she would have committed an offence. The officer would explain clearly to the pedestrian that the area had been designated, the significance of that and the consequences of failing to comply with the officer's request. If the hon. Lady ever found herself in that position, I hope that she would, in the circumstances, comply with the request.
Clause 2 relates to searches of non-residential premises. As hon. Members know, the police sometimes receive reliable intelligence--for example, that explosives are concealed in a garage in a particular area of London or that a lorry carrying home-made explosives has been left in a lorry park near a motorway intersection. Such information is of clear importance and needs to be investigated, but often the intelligence received is not sufficient to identify precisely the garage or lorry park in question. It is currently impossible to obtain a search warrant to enter all relevant premises and examine them.
The new search power in clause 2 will enable a magistrate--or a sheriff in Scotland--to issue a warrant for the police to search a list of premises. The police will not be required to say in which of those listed premises they believe they will find the material. A warrant may be issued only on the application of an officer of at least superintendent rank. Any search of premises named in the warrant must be made within 24 hours of the warrant being issued.
Clause 3 will enable examining officers at ports to search unaccompanied freight. At present, the police may stop and examine individuals coming through ports and, in the course of examining them, they may search their baggage and their vehicles for anti-terrorist purposes. Customs officers can search goods that have come from outside the United Kingdom, but police officers cannot, at present, search cargo that is not accompanied by an individual. Clause 3 will allow them to do so.
With trade increasing and up to 10,000 items of freight coming through west-coast ports each day, the police cannot and will not search all of them. But spot checks and checks following intelligence received should do much to deter and disrupt terrorists' plans and the restocking of their armoury. That is the only one of the powers that is not currently available in Northern Ireland and the Bill will therefore extend that power to the Province as well as to Great Britain.
Clause 4 will enable the police to cordon off an area and restrict access while they look for a bomb or while they collect forensic evidence following the discovery of a bomb or an explosion. The police already have limited
powers under common law to impose cordons, but the extent of their existing powers is uncertain. Clause 4 will provide a firm statutory basis and will remove that uncertainty. It will ensure that the police can exclude people from a cordon for their own safety and for the safety of others, and it will ensure that they can keep a zone sterile until they have completed any forensic examination of the scene.
The new power will be exercised initially for a period of up to 14 days and will be capable of renewal for up to a further 14 days. However, past experience suggests that most cordons will be kept in place for less than two weeks. The new power will be subject to the authorisation of an officer of at least superintendent rank. However, in an emergency it may be invoked by any constable and then confirmed by a superintendent or officer of more senior rank.
Rev. Ian Paisley (North Antrim):
The Home Secretary spoke about the common law. If the Bill is challenged in Europe, can the Home Secretary revert to the common law principle that the police have the right to cordon off certain areas and search them?
Mr. Howard:
Yes, I can give the hon. Gentleman that assurance because the Bill provides that its powers are additional to existing powers. In the event that the hon. Gentleman anticipates, which I hope will not arise, common law powers would still be available for use.
Mr. Mackinlay:
I do not think that the chief officer of the Royal Parks constabulary is of superintendent rank. Who would retrospectively confirm an urgent action that had been taken by royal parks officers? Does the "urgency" power that is mentioned in clause 4 extend to ports police forces, which are privately owned and controlled? Northern Ireland airports and the ports of Tilbury, Teesside and Felixstowe all have private police forces of sworn constables, but those forces certainly do not have anybody of superintendent rank in their structures.
Mr. Howard:
The officer would be the superintendent of the police force in whose area the royal park, for example, was situated. If there were any question of retrospective authorisation, that superintendent would be responsible for it. I hope that that deals with the hon. Gentleman's point.
Mr. Mackinlay:
What about ports?
Mr. Howard:
Exactly the same consideration would apply. Authorisation would be by the superintendent of the force within whose area the port was situated.
The schedule sets out the powers that may be exercised by the police inside the cordon. These include power to search premises within the cordon for any device or other terrorist material and to collect any forensic evidence found. Offences are created of failing to leave the cordon when required to do so and of breaking the cordon and obstructing a constable in the exercise of any of his powers within the cordon. Prosecution will proceed only by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions. As an additional safeguard, a defence is provided for those who can prove that they have lawful authority or a reasonable excuse for their actions.
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett (Denton and Reddish):
How will the search powers apply inside and outside a cordoned area? I understand that outside such an area the police have to apply to a magistrate for a search warrant, which occasionally takes some time. Is putting a cordon around an area a short cut so that they do not have to apply for a warrant?
Mr. Howard:
I understood the hon. Gentleman's question to relate to the power to search premises within a cordon. As the cordon will be set up only in circumstances of some urgency, I understand that the power to search premises within it will not require a warrant.
Mr. Kevin McNamara (Kingston upon Hull, North):
The right hon. and learned Gentleman is on an important point. In speaking to clause 4 he spoke specifically in terms of the possibility of bombs, explosives and so on, but the clause is not that limited. It relates to the preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. It is not as finely defined as the Home Secretary suggests. Therefore, the point that he made in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Denton and Reddish (Mr. Bennett) would not necessarily apply.
Mr. Howard:
I make no apology for the fact that the police should be allowed to search for material that might help to bring to justice those who made the bombs or who might be prepared to use weapons, and not simply to look for bombs or bullets. If the hon. Gentleman takes the view that it would be reasonable to allow the police to look only for bombs or bullets, that is not a view that I share.
Mr. McNamara:
That was not the point that I made. My point was that, normally, one would need a warrant to search premises, but for a cordoned area a warrant is not needed. [Interruption.] I am sorry that I have an effect on my hon. Friends. Designating an area could be seen as a short cut to a mass search of premises. That was the point that my hon. Friend the Member for Denton and Reddish made.
Mr. Howard:
I ask the hon. Gentleman to reflect on the circumstances that we are considering. We are considering circumstances in which the police are endeavouring to find a bomb or evidence about the identity of those who were responsible for planting a bomb. The police will wish to search for any evidence that will assist them in those objectives, and it is right that they should have the power to do that. That is why the power is so framed.
The Whip reminds me about the length of time for which I have been speaking. I must seek to make more progress.
Clause 5 will give the police the power to impose temporary parking restrictions on roads or parts of roads in response to a general threat to vulnerable targets such as Government buildings, financial centres, major transport facilities and so on. Again, the police have powers under common law, but there is uncertainty as to their extent and the length of time for which they can be used. The powers of the police in this area require statutory underpinning.
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