Member

I know the Minister is a decent and caring man— I presume the noble Lord, Lord Katz, is too. Getting back to the amendment, I am sorry that both Ministers have to follow a Department for Transport line that they probably both do not believe in, but that is collective responsibility for you. The Ministers are not blind. They know the carnage out there on the streets. They know the flagrant abuse of our laws, which cannot be enforced no matter how many police we have. If there is no way to identify the thousands of illegal bikes being sold and used, and no way to identify the riders, as the noble Lord, Lord Hogan-Howe, said last week, there is nothing they can do. The law-breaking and dangers to our pedestrians are the fault not of the Home Office but of the fanatics in the Department for Transport who are obsessed with permitting a cycling free-for-all. One day they will have blood on their hands. When that happens, I hope they are never able to sleep easily at night.