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Stewart Hosie : There is a great deal in the Bill to be commended, not least the provisions regarding real firearms and realistic imitation firearms. As the Minister and other Members who served on the Committee know, however, our primary concern is airgun crime, although attempts to tackle real gun crime remain vital, as I said in Committee and I am happy to put on record again.
I shall explain our concerns about airgun crime. In 2003–04, there were 68 firearms murders, 1,195 attempted murders, and more than 10,000 crimes involving real firearms in England. In Scotland over the same period, there was one murder, four attempted murders and fewer than 200 crimes in which the firearm was identified as a real one. The figures for handguns are even more stark. There were 5,123 crimes, including 35 murders, in England, compared with only 29 handgun crimes and no murders in Scotland. The Government are absolutely right to tackle this scourge and to clamp down on it as hard as they possibly can. I do not want to see the handgun crime that causes so much misery in parts of the south-east of
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England spreading to Scotland and other parts of the UK. In Scotland over that same period, however, there were 415 airgun crimes, compared with 194 crimes involving a real firearm—more than 200 per cent. more.
I welcome the amendments that have been made to the Bill. The Minister knows that I have concerns about the licensing scheme relating to vendors rather than purchasers. I am being deliberately brief, but I hope that, if the Minister looks at the statistics in a year or two and finds that the measure has not been sufficiently robust, and if airgun crime continues to rise, the Government will revisit this issue and look more sympathetically at a purchaser licensing scheme, rather than a vendor licensing scheme.
9.59 pm
Hazel Blears: With the leave of the House, Mr. Speaker, I do not think that I have anything to add except to thank the hon. Members for Woking (Mr. Malins) and for Hornsey and Wood Green (Lynne Featherstone) and all the officials who have helped us throughout our consideration of the Bill. I commend the Bill to the House.
Bill accordingly read the Third time, and passed.
DELEGATED LEGISLATION
Motion made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 118(6)(Standing Committees on Delegated Legislation),
That the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998 (Specified Organisations) Order 2005 (S.I., 2005, No. 2558), dated 13th September 2005, a copy of which was laid before this House on 14th September, be approved.—[Mr. Heppell.]
Mr. Speaker: With the leave of the House, I shall put together motions 3 to 8.
Motion made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 118(6)(Standing Committees on Delegated Legislation),
That the draft Civil Partnership (House of Commons Members' Fund) Order 2005, which was laid before this House on 13th October, be approved.
That the draft Civil Partnership (Judicial Pensions and Church Pensions, etc.) Order 2005, which was laid before this House on 17th October, be approved.
That the draft Civil Partnership (Family Proceedings and Housing Consequential Amendments) Order 2005, which was laid before this House on 19th October, be approved.
That the draft Civil Partnership (Jurisdiction and Recognition of Judgments) Regulations 2005, which were laid before this House on 27th October, be approved.
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That the draft New Opportunities Fund (Specification of Initiatives) (No. 2) Order 2005, which was laid before this House on 11th October, be approved.
That the draft Disability Discrimination (Private Clubs etc.) Regulations 2005, which were laid before this House on 19th October, be approved.—[Mr. Heppell.]
EUROPEAN UNION DOCUMENTS
Motion made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 119(9)(European Standing Committees),
That this House takes note of European Union Document No. 10514/05, draft Council Regulation on the common organisation of the markets in the sugar sector, and draft Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No. 1782/2003 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the Common Agricultural Policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers, and draft Council Regulation establishing a temporary scheme for the restructuring of the sugar industry in the European Community and amending Regulation (EC) No. 1258/1999 on the financing of the Common Agricultural Policy; and supports the Government's objective of achieving a more sustainable, market-based approach, in line with the reforms already agreed in June 2003 and April 2004 in other sectors, and consistent with the European Union's wider trade and development objectives.—[Mr. Heppell.]
Motion made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 119(9)(European Standing Committees),
That this House takes note of European Union Documents No. 1386/04, Commission Communication on the Instruments for External Assistance under the Future Financial Perspective 2007–2013, No. 13687/04, Draft Council Regulation establishing an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), No. 13688/04, Draft Council Regulation establishing a European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument, No. 13689/04, Draft Council Regulation establishing a financing instrument for development co-operation and economic co-operation, No. 13690/04, Draft Council Regulation establishing an Instrument for Stability; and agrees with the Government that they provide a good basis for discussion of external actions spending (Heading 4) in the next Financial Perspective 2007–2013.—[Mr. Heppell.]
COMMITTEES
That Mr Russell Brown, John Bercow, Mr Brian Binley, Mr William Cash, Mr Martin Caton, Colin Challen, Mr Nick Clegg, Jim Dobbin, Mr Steven Dorrell, Paul Farrelly, Mr John Macdougall and Lynda Waltho be members of the Select Committee appointed to join with a Committee of the Lords as the Joint Committee on Consolidation, &c., Bills.—[Rosemary McKenna, on behalf of the Committee of Selection.]
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PETITIONS
IsItFair Campaign
10 pm
Mr. Robert Walter (North Dorset) (Con): I wish to present a petition on behalf of the IsItFair council tax protest campaign in my constituency. I want to refer particularly to the lead signatory of the petition, Mr. Brian Jaye, one of the leading activists in this campaign nationally, who told me today that he sees this as a human rights issue, which he is prepared to take to the European Court of Human Rights.
That the year-on-year, inflation-busting increases in council tax are causing hardship to many and take no account of ability to pay; further that the proposed property revaluation and re-banding exercise will make an already flawed system even worse.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons votes to replace Council Tax with a fair and equitable tax that, without recourse to any supplementary benefit, takes into account ability to pay from disposable income. Such tax to be based on a system that is free from any geographical or politically motivated discrimination, and that clearly identifies the fiscal and managerial responsibilities of all involved parties.
10.2 pm
Mr. Oliver Letwin (West Dorset) (Con): I wish to present a petition on behalf of many hundreds of my constituents. I have the advantage of being able to be brief, because my hon. Friend the Member for North Dorset (Mr. Walter) and I are presenting the same petition in the same terms, although from different constituents. That is likely to be the case for many other constituencies around Britain. The petition is of course cast in the same terms and arises from the same concerns about inflation-busting council tax rises that are unaffordable for my constituents:
That the year-on-year, inflation-busting increases in council tax are causing hardship to many and take no account of ability to pay; further that the proposed property revaluation and re-banding exercise will make an already flawed system even worse.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons votes to replace Council Tax with a fair and equitable tax that, without recourse to any supplementary benefit, takes into account ability to pay from disposable income. Such tax to be based on a system that is free from any geographical or politically motivated discrimination, and that clearly identifies the fiscal and managerial responsibilities of all involved parties.
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