Public Disorder

Debate between Dan Byles and Philip Hollobone

Thursday 11th August 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Walsall North (Mr Winnick), for whom I have a great deal of respect, but I am afraid that I disagree with him on water cannon, the issue to which I want to speak this evening. In doing so, I declare my interest as a special constable with the British Transport police, and I also speak on behalf of the hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone), who would like to be here but is not for family reasons. I also thank all those police officers who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to defend local communities during the past few days, some 40 of whom have come from Northamptonshire.

I simply cannot understand, and nor can my constituents, what the problem is with using water cannon in this country. Rioters do not like being cold and wet, and they will go home. If we spray them with cold water, especially if there is dye in it so that we can see who the troublemakers are, we will find that it is easy to arrest them. That is not an operational matter for the police, as we have been told throughout today; it is a matter for the Home Office, and I note that no Home Office Minister is present on the Treasury Bench to hear these remarks, which is a great shame.

I have a Home Office letter, dated 22 December 2010, from the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup (James Brokenshire), who is responsible for crime prevention. It states:

“Water cannon are not approved for use in England and Wales. Chief Officers would need to seek Home Office approval under the Code of Practice on Police Use of Firearms and Less Lethal Weapons if they wanted to introduce water cannon to England and Wales as a potential public order tool.”

Responsibility for water cannon rests with the Home Office, not with chief constables. The letter goes on to state:

“The Home Office would carefully need to consider its operational merits, its technical and medical risks and its impact on the British model of policing before approving it as a tactical option for police. However I do not think anybody wants to see water cannon on the streets of Britain as we have a different culture of policing.”

May I tell Her Majesty’s Government that my constituents do want to see water cannon on the streets of Britain? We want to see rioters hosed down, sprayed and covered in purple dye, so that we can see who the troublemakers are.

[Dan Byles (North Warwickshire) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend not agree, however, that water cannon are generally better at dispersing large groups of rioters who are confronting the police? In recent days, we have seen agile, nimble groups of rioters who have been evading the police, so water cannon might not be that useful in those circumstances.

[Mr Hollobone]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point, and the rioters over the past few days have not been like those in Parliament square, but when those riots occurred recently the same excuses were trotted out about how water cannon would not be appropriate. They would be appropriate, because if all those yobs in Parliament square had been hosed down and covered in purple dye they would soon have gone home, so it is simply not fair to expect police officers, with a riot shield in one hand and a baton in the other, and when they are told off for hitting somebody with a baton, to face a violent mob without giving them the weapons that they should have to bring order back to our streets.

My hon. Friend makes a reasonable point, but water cannon would have helped with the riots of recent days, because someone who is cold, wet and covered in purple dye is far less likely to loot their local TV shop, JD Sports or whatever, as they would know that the police would be able to come and get them pretty quickly.

I welcome the news today from the Prime Minister that at last we are going to have some action on face coverings. May I commend to the Government my Face Coverings (Regulation) Bill, which I introduced earlier in the year, and which would have banned the covering of all faces in public? If we are going to do so for people with criminal intent, we will at least take a step forward, but may I urge Her Majesty’s Government to give the police stop-and-search powers so that they can apprehend people in order to search for face coverings? The existing legislation prevents police officers from stopping and searching somebody to see whether they are in possession of face coverings.

My constituents want to see water cannon used against rioters, and they want to see legislation to ban face coverings for those intent on promoting criminal violence. Basically, we are too soft in this country on those who would set about causing violent disorder, and it is time that the police service became a police force once again.