Member

In making his case against Amendment 11, the Minister prayed in aid the fact that the threat to the UK is currently graded “substantial”. He is of course right, but there are four other possible levels of threat: “critical” and “severe”, which are higher than “substantial”, and “moderate” and “low”, which are lower. The Government’s position on the Bill’s rigidly set figures of 200 and 800, with strict requirements on organisers’ obligations above each, takes no account of the threat level. There are many other factors that bear on the real risk, and therefore the measures it is appropriate to take at an event, such as the environment in which it takes place. I have mentioned rural and urban, and there are widely varying environments even within those. The dynamics of an audience will be vastly different from event to event. There are many variables that affect the nature and value of an event as a target for an attacker, but the Government’s approach takes no account of them. An intelligence led, risk-based approach would involve co-operation with the police and security forces in order to arrive at a carefully tailored plan for each event.