Lord King of Bridgwater (Con) [V]:...I make no apology for
repeating what I said on an earlier amendment in quoting James
Brokenshire, the Minister for Security, when he gave the
astonishing figures for a single year in London alone. The use of
undercover sources resulted in 3,500 arrests, the recovery of more
than 100 firearms and 400 other weapons, the seizure of more than
400 kilograms of class A drugs and the recovery of more than £2.5
million in cash. It also enabled, which I did not...Request free trial
(Con) [V]:...I make no apology for
repeating what I said on an earlier amendment in quoting , the
Minister for Security, when he gave the astonishing figures for a
single year in London alone. The use of undercover sources resulted
in 3,500 arrests, the recovery of more than 100 firearms and 400
other weapons, the seizure of more than 400 kilograms of class A
drugs and the recovery of more than £2.5 million in cash. It also
enabled, which I did not mention, the National Crime
Agency to safeguard several hundred victims of crime,
including from child sexual exploitation and abuse. Those figures
alone, just from London in one year, surely leave nobody in any
doubt of the importance of this vital source of support for
preserving an orderly and law-abiding society. I make this point
because, under the code of practice, which includes this question,
others are seeking to add the word “serious” to “crime”. How does
an authorising officer react when an informant comes and says,
“There is a group of people who are starting to get together, I am
not quite sure what they are up to, but I think there is a real
risk that it could turn, later on, into something much
nastier”?
The Minister of State, Home Office ()
(Con):...We have agencies such as HMRC, the NCA
and the Serious Fraud Office whose mandate includes mitigating
broader threats to the UK’s economic well-being. These threats are
real, emerging and go beyond the remit of national security. We
cannot tie our hands in response to such threats by limiting the
statutory purposes available to tackle these issues. Of course,
there are also examples of where economic well-being is not
restricted to national security, as set out in other parts of the
Investigatory Powers Act and the Security Service Act...
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