Speeches by Johnson.

“I have just set out to you that it was a cross‑party group of—”

“I am here today—”

“If I could just finish, the recommendation that was made in that Home Affairs Select Committee report in the previous Parliament was based on a group of politicians, cross-party, including your own party, that sat down and reached those recommendations together. That is very different to a Government policy that I am s…”

“Mr Flynn, you are a very experienced Member of this House and you know that, when a Member of Parliament becomes a Minister, their personal views are irrelevant, because they are there to represent the views of the Government.”

“To be clear again, drug consumption facilities are not Government policy. As Members of Parliament, we all recognise how communities can be affected by the use or misuse of drugs. I think that one of the members of the Committee raised this earlier on, about how important it is that the voices of local communities are …”

“The budget around drugs at the moment is very much skewed towards treatment and recovery. I know that under previous Governments, from 2010 onwards, there were cuts to budgets around drug treatment. It was interesting to hear the discussion in the earlier session—I think actually you raised it yourself—about the number…”

“I have spoken to experts in the past, and I am thinking particularly of Dame Carol Black, who has a lot of experience in this area of drug policy and carried out the review for the previous Government. She took the view that there needed to be further evidence. I do not think that we could just work on the basis of wha…”

“My own personal view is irrelevant, because I am here to present what the Government of the United Kingdom’s policy is around drugs.”

“I think that that was one of the recommendations that was made by the Home Affairs Select Committee in the previous Parliament, which I of course chaired; I had great pleasure in doing that. My role now is different. I am a Government Minister. I am here to speak on behalf of the Government and set out what the Governm…”

“While drugs policy and legislation is reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government have responsibility for healthcare, education and housing. These are issues that also play a part in how you tackle the drug problem in Scotland, just as they are around the United Kingdom. This is a response that the Scottish …”

“No, I do not accept that, with the greatest of respect. This is not the only thing that can be done to deal with drug misuse. The UK Government are very clear that there are a number of measures that can be used. You have already talked about clean needles. We know, for example, that Police Scotland has led the way in …”

“With the greatest of respect, this is not a UK Government policy. It is something that the Scottish Government have decided to do but it does not have legal basis within the Misuse of Drugs Act, as you know. You have obviously had lots of evidence about that and about the approach that the Lord Advocate has taken to pr…”

“As I understand it, it is a pilot. It has to be evaluated and there has to be evidence produced. I am not sure that that will be available within a year. As I understand the evidence that you have received, the interim evaluation will be available in two and a half years’ time. That is what I understand you have been t…”

“As I have said, we look at evidence and we have experts. We have the ACMD that offers advice. We look at evidence all the time. I really want to be clear with you: we do not support drug consumption facilities. It is not our policy and we will not be amending the Misuse of Drugs Act, just to be very clear with you.”

“I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman might write to me with the details of what he has outlined. If so, I will look at them.”

“I welcome what my hon. Friend has said; this is a problem up and down the land. At the moment, police forces are doing their best, but the Crime and Policing Bill will allow them to seize vehicles that are being used in an antisocial way, without having to give any warnings, and then to destroy them. That is the way fo…”

“May I express my concern about the attack on my hon. Friend’s constituent? It is totally unacceptable. Under the retail crime action plan, the police made operational commitments to prioritising attendance where violence had been used. Some progress has been made, but much more needs to be done. I will ensure that ever…”

“Under the previous Government, shop theft was allowed to reach epidemic proportions. There was a 70% increase in the last two years of the previous Government. We are working hard to tackle this epidemic in every area of our country, including rural areas. Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we are introducing a new s…”

“The Home Secretary has been very clear about the priorities that police forces should actually focus on. As agreed with the Home Secretary, the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing are conducting a review of non-crime hate incidents. We will update Parliament in due course on the findings of that…”

“A case has been made over several years for why retail workers should be covered by this specific offence. Work was done with the Co-op, the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers and many others to get the evidence together. If there is evidence from the financial sector and from banks, I want to see it, so I …”