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Mr. Straw: I understand the point that my hon. Friend makes. However, there is a fine balance to be struck and a fine line to be drawn--both for the media and for
Ministers--between not giving those individuals the oxygen of publicity, while recognising that they have committed outrages and inflicted considerable violence. The public have a right to know about that and to understand the concern that, for example, the Government and Members of Parliament have about such matters.
I have no complaint about the way in which the media have handled these matters. In relation to the balance to which I referred, one of the reasons that the police held back before they concluded that the bombings were racist crimes was precisely that they did not wish to give unjustified publicity to the right-wing extremist groups which--it now appears--committed those crimes. Happily, I do not think that anyone has criticised the police for holding back their judgment until they were reasonably certain that the crimes were racist. For similar reasons, when the Brixton outrage took place, after discussions with the Commissioner, I decided that it would not be appropriate for me to visit the area--as I pointed out to the House earlier. That was not because I was not concerned--indeed, I was extremely concerned--but to ensure that we calibrated the response to meet the public's concerns, and not the perpetrators' appetite for gratuitous publicity.
Mr. Richard Allan (Sheffield, Hallam):
The Home Secretary will be aware of the racist filth that feeds organisations involved in such crimes. I hope that he shares my appreciation for the work of Gerry Gable and Searchlight magazine in bringing to public attention the producers of that material. The right hon. Gentleman has already mentioned taking action against racist material on the internet. As a priority, will he also investigate the producers and distributors of CDs of racist music, and the organisers of racist music concerts? A recent report in Searchlight showed that that music is a key component in the funding of organisations such as Combat 18, so that they can carry out crimes.
Mr. Straw:
I pay my own tribute to Searchlight and its editor for the phenomenal work that they have done over the years in exposing racists and other extremists. As for the producers of racist CDs, they are subject to the law--as are other publishers. If the hon. Gentleman has any evidence about that matter, I should be happy to receive it.
Mr. John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington):
The Home Secretary has visited my constituency on several occasions and is aware that we have one of the largest Sikh communities in the country. Indeed, yesterday at the Royal Albert hall, he was entertained by children from the Guru Nanak Sikh college in my constituency. My right hon. Friend will be aware that the community is anxious about being a soft target. I ask him to consider urgently applications for additional resources for closed circuit television cameras to cover our town centre and other vulnerable areas, so that we can at least increase our vigilance, as he urges us to do.
Mr. Straw:
I have indeed visited my hon. Friend's constituency on many occasions; as he says, it contains one of the largest Sikh communities in the country. One event that emphasises the progress that we in this country have made in community and race relations was yesterday's wonderful celebration at the Royal Albert
On the question of soft targets, I understand my hon. Friend's concern. I should have mentioned in my answer to an earlier question that £400 million is now available through crime reduction programmes for measuressuch as targeted policing; of that sum, £170 million is principally for closed circuit television schemes. I shall certainly ensure that applications from areas that are at risk of racist violence are carefully considered.
Mr. Jeremy Corbyn (Islington, North):
The Home Secretary will be aware that hon. Members who represent multicultural communities are detecting enormous concern among ordinary people about the danger and about threats to their way of life, which is what the explosions at Brixton and Brick lane amounted to. Is he satisfied that the police have sufficient knowledge or intelligence about the activities of far-right racist organisations in this country? What connections have the police uncovered between organisations in this country and those in continental Europe, where, tragically, the sort of atrocities seen for the past two weekends in London are more commonplace? The connection is there to be seen; is my right hon. Friend satisfied that the police are able to deal with that?
Mr. Straw:
In this as in other respects, I am satisfied as to the professionalism and assiduity of the police and the intelligence agencies. As can be seen from Irish terrorism, when terrorist groups are highly organised, even extensive intelligence coverage of those groups cannot provide a guarantee against the possibility that they will commit terrorist outrages. With the best will in
Mr. Tony McNulty (Harrow, East):
Does my right hon. Friend agree that the perpetrators of the bombings are no more and no less than mindless, murderous thugs; and that to attribute some sort of political dimension to their crime, for example, by calling it a backlash to the Lawrence inquiry, is entirely wrong--at best naive and at worst perverse? Can he assure me that communities such as the one represented by my hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (Mr. McDonnell) and me, which are less well known as significant centres of ethnic communities, are being made as alert and are being as well looked after by the Metropolitan police as more well-known areas such as Brick lane and Brixton? Outer London suburbs must not be forgotten, for they too contain significant ethnic communities.
Mr. Straw:
My hon. Friend is right. There are significant black and Asian communities throughout this country--in inner London, outer London, almost all of our major cities and many of our towns and rural areas--and in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The police in the Metropolitan area and outside are applying themselves with great vigour to giving advice and guidance to communities about how best they can minimise the risk. There is no way in which risk can be entirely avoided as long as there are mindless, murderous thugs who are intent on planting further bombs. That emphasises the need, first, for proper information--the best available--to be given to the police; and, secondly, for continued vigilance to be maintained.
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.--[Mr. Pope.]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. John Spellar):
Following the Prime Minister's statement earlier this afternoon, I am sure that I have the support of the whole House in beginning this debate on defence equipment by paying tribute to our service men and women who are currently deployed on NATO operations in the Balkans. They are, once again, earning not only our admiration, but that of the whole world for their dedication, courage and professionalism. The fact that so many of our young service men and women are deployed on a variety of missions in the Balkans brings home to us, yet again, how important it is to ensure that they are provided with the equipment they need to do the jobs that we ask of them--and we take that responsibility very seriously.
A recurring feature of debates about defence equipment has tended to be long, but by no means comprehensive, lists of new equipment that we are buying or are considering buying. That is natural, as is the considerable concern expressed by individual Members of Parliament about programmes that are important to workers or companies in their constituencies. I hope to address today some of the most topical and significant of those programmes.
However, I will also outline some of the steps that we have taken to improve the process by which we supply our front-line forces with the tools that they need to do their job. This must be a seamless process from cradle to grave. It includes not only specifying and purchasing equipment from manufacturers, but maintaining and managing that equipment throughout its life. In parallel, we are also reforming the way in which we run our construction projects and services, on which we spend some £1.5 billion a year. We are drawing heavily on the recommendations made by Sir John Egan in his "Rethinking Construction" report, and taking forwardthe initiative led by the Deputy Prime Minister and the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions. We intend that the Ministry of Defence will be clearly recognised as a best-practice client in construction.
The theme that unites all those reforms is that we identify best practice in Government or the private sector, here or overseas, and work it into an acquisition process that delivers solutions to defence requirements faster, more cheaply and better. We started that process in opposition and, in consultation with industry and trade unions, and with good consultancy support, we developed those ideas and carried them through into a blueprint for modernisation in the strategic defence review. It is yet another item on our agenda for modernising government, which will deliver more responsive and effective public services for Britain in the new millennium.
The SDR involved a fundamental reappraisal of our defence roles, re-evaluating from first principles what we will require from our armed forces in the new millennium. The outcome was a comprehensive and coherent account of our plans for the future capabilities of the armed forces.
However, as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said when introducing the debate on the strategic defence review last autumn:
5.5 pm
"it is not enough to set the right course. What really matters is to see that course through."--[Official Report, 19 October 1998; Vol. 317, c. 971.]
In that context, I start by focusing on smart procurement. One of the key differences between this and previous attempts to reform defence procurement--which we have drawn on freely--has been the creation of an implementation team to drive the changes through. That has been mirrored in defence logistics and the SDR as a whole.
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