Friday Volume 522 4 February 2011 No. 112 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Friday 4 February 2011 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2011 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Parliamentary Click-Use Licence, available online through the Office of Public Sector Information website at www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/ Enquiries to the Office of Public Sector Information, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU; e-mail: [email protected] 1159 4 FEBRUARY 2011 1160 House of Commons Anonymity (Arrested Persons) Bill Second Reading Friday 4 February 2011 9.34 am The House met at half-past Nine o’clock Anna Soubry (Broxtowe) (Con): I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. I am grateful, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity, which PRAYERS arose as a result of my being drawn in the ballot for private Members’ Bills, to introduce the Bill in the [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] House. It is important that I begin by explaining where the Bill comes from and what I seek to achieve, because Anna Soubry (Broxtowe) (Con): I beg to move, That I hope to cure a real mischief. Hon. Members will recall the House sit in private. what happened last summer, and I am not keen to rekindle that debate. The coalition Government proposed Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 163), and that anonymity be given to people when they were negatived. arrested and subsequently charged with the offence of rape. There was much debate; many of us did not think that it was a good idea and, in various ways, we made it clear that such a change in law was not required. We made representations both in private and in public, and it is very much to the credit of the Government and of the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, my hon. Friend the Member for Reigate (Mr Blunt), that there was a change of heart. I say that, because I know that he had a long-held belief born quite properly out of a constituent’s case with which he had dealt many years ago, and which had stayed with him. I hope all hon. Members would wish to act when they come across something that they think is wrong, and we have the great benefit of having a place in the Chamber and a process that we can use to succeed in righting a wrong. I should like to play a part in righting what I believe is a serious wrong. The Bill comes from that debate. Many of us, even though we did not necessarily support the coalition’s proposals, felt that we could all come together and agree that there was a serious problem that had evolved over the years and that needed to be solved. In the past, the press did not publish the name and address of someone when they were arrested, but waited until they were charged to do so. Over the past few years, that has all changed. The press not only publish the name and address of someone when they have been arrested but they give more details. As we have recently seen with events in Bristol, it has reached the stage where many of us believe it has got to stop. A great wrong is being done, and it is time that it was righted. That is what I seek to do—to stop this sort of reporting. Sir Peter Bottomley (Worthing West) (Con): The problem with publicity arrangements when someone has been arrested is that the media can refer to all kinds of detail that they are not allowed to refer to once a charge is brought. Is my hon. Friend trying to fill that gap? Anna Soubry: My hon. Friend is quite right—that is exactly what I am trying to do. I do not want to turn this into a debate about press freedom, because it is not as simple as that. I should like to explain where I am coming from—a dreadful modern expression, but it is an accurate description. About 30 years ago, I first became involved in student politics—you may remember those times, Mr Speaker. I was a student reading law—you were 1161 Anonymity (Arrested Persons) Bill4 FEBRUARY 2011 Anonymity (Arrested Persons) Bill 1162 [Anna Soubry] and the nature of the allegation, and on top of that, the person’s name and address appear in the local paper. If probably at kindergarten—and I became involved in it is a high-profile case, they appear in the national student politics. I then trained to become a barrister. papers. Student politics, rather bizarrely, took me to Scotland, because I won an election. I blame not just the good Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green) (Con): It is students of Stirling university for that but my hon. not just the naming of someone as a person of interest. Friend the Member for Finchley and Golders Green If we recall the landlord in Bristol, it was the castigation, (Mike Freer)—we, too, go back many years. I ended up the crawling over of that gentleman’s background, the as the honorary president of Stirling university, and I questioning of his looks, his eccentricity and his sexuality was in need of a job. that were abhorrent and that will follow him around for It had always been my intention and ambition to ever. Does my hon. Friend agree that the problem is not work in the broadcast media, for reasons that I do not just the naming, but the castigation that follows such need to divulge to the House. The only good advice that people around afterwards? I ever got about how to achieve my ambition was to start on a local newspaper and learn my trade as a Anna Soubry: I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who journalist. I did that. I worked for a year on a newspaper makes exactly the point that is most pertinent. It is the called the Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser and Journal.It vilification. I have used the expression and I do not was a great publication. It employed at least two reporters, hesitate to use it again. What we saw in Bristol was, in and I was one of them. I covered everything, from the effect, a feeding frenzy and vilification. Much of the fortunes of Alloa Athletic right through to the editing coverage was not only completely irrelevant, but there of the pigeon club—one of my greatest moments in was a homophobic tone to it which I found deeply journalism. In all seriousness, I honed a trade there. offensive. The slurs on the man were out of order. All I learned a great deal. At that time we never published good and decent people in this country accept that. the name and address of anybody who was arrested, I include in that number fellow journalists. because a convention existed. I am grateful to all the people who have contacted me In due course I was lucky enough to go into television. by letter or e-mail. Among them have been journalists, I worked in television for many, many years, not just as some of whom wanted to speak privately. Among good, a presenter, but as a reporter. I have always been very sensible journalists there is a desire now for clarity. I will proud of my membership of the National Union of deal in due course with the Contempt of Court Act Journalists. I was shop steward. That does not make me 1981. It as if those journalists want us, as Parliament, to a good journalist, but I hope it explains where I am help them in a way that they cannot do themselves. coming from, and I do not want my remarks to be seen They cannot self-regulate because of the financial pressure as an attack on all the people with whom I had the great that is being placed especially on our newspapers and honour to work and whose skills I still admire. on our broadcast media. I shall deal with that point If we look at what is happening in Egypt, we know later. that it is because of the courage of the media there that Enough is enough. We must do something about the not just all of us know what is going on there, but most matter and stop it. It is not just ordinary members of importantly, the people of that country, notwithstanding the public and journalists who want clarity and who the oppression in place, know what is happening. We want the present practice to end; it is also the police. sometimes forget the invaluable work that the media do, I shall touch on that as I go through my speech. The and how brave and courageous many reporters are, man who was first arrested in Bristol was not the first, especially in such situations. I am keen to emphasise but I want him to be the last. There are other examples. that this is not an attack on the media, but it is a serious Again, I am grateful for the e-mails that I have received criticism of the antics that have prevailed for too long and the information that I have been given from various among certain sections of the media. That is what the sources to remind me of other people who have found Bill seeks to address. themselves in a similar position. I mentioned events in Bristol. Let me make it clear that I do not intend to name anybody, and I am sure Iain Stewart (Milton Keynes South) (Con): Another that hon.