Member

That is the thinking behind these two amendments—they are probing only. It is right that there are appropriate criminal offences and police powers that move with the times—in the last debate, we heard eloquently argued the need to shield brave police officers. That is all well and good, but the other side of the equation is that with power comes responsibility. When a sacred and vital trust is breached—not just as in the Everard case, but what about that “Panorama” documentary of last autumn, “Undercover in the Police”, set in a London police station, where we saw the levels of racism, misogyny, bullying and physical abuse of power that our colleague, the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, warned about?—confidence needs to be rebuilt, because it will serve none of us, including most police officers, for public confidence to be undermined in that way. I beg to move.