Labour’s awkward opposition to the policing bill

MPs will continue debating the second reading of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill today, with a vote later. Last night’s debate gave us a pretty good idea of what the legislation’s progress through the Commons is going to look like: it is going to be far more partisan and noisy than anything Parliament has seen in the past year.

There was a battle of interventions from Conservative and Labour backbenchers as their own sides set out their positions on the bill. Tory MPs had clearly come primed to argue that voting against the legislation would be a mistake for Labour, while Opposition MPs were busy pointing out that it contained scant reference to protecting women.

Here’s one exemplary intervention from Tory backbencher Jacob Young early on, asking Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds the following:

‘Does the right hon. Gentleman not agree that no one should be able to block an ambulance from crossing the road or bridge, and that no one should be able to block a printing press from printing newspapers? If he does agree, why will he not vote for the Bill?’

Labour is indeed in an awkward position, given the wide scope of the Bill, and given its late decision to oppose it.