Many of
you will have read last Monday’s Telegraph report of my night out on
patrol in Cleethorpes with the Humberside Police Commissioner, Matthew Grove,
the police and our magnificent ‘Street Angels.’
The role
of Police Commissioner was the subject of much debate when the legislation was
passing through Parliament a couple of years ago but most of the commissioners
are settling into their roles and providing both real accountability and
developing links with the local communities throughout the Force area. I can
see their role extending over coming years perhaps incorporating responsibility
for the other emergency services.
After last
week when the three Police Federation officers appeared before Parliament’s
Home Affairs Select Committee to be questioned about their part in the downfall
of former Cabinet Minister, Andrew Mitchell who can doubt that the police must
be democratically accountable.
But I
digress; the officers I meet as I go about the constituency are dedicated to
serving the public and we owe them our thanks and appreciation. Certainly those
I saw in action on the streets of Cleethorpes were able to diffuse some rather
tense encounters using a mix of humour, firmness and authority.
Turning to
the ‘Street Angels:’ they are a dedicated group of individuals who give up many
of their Saturday nights to walk the streets until 2.30 a.m. keeping an eye out
for anyone in distress or perhaps a little worse for drink. Organised by
Churches Together in North East Lincolnshire they are people of faith who are
genuinely concerned about their local community.
Similar
groups operate in towns and cities up and down the country. They are admirable
in every way.
As well as
the police there was a representative from the Fire and Rescue Service and
North East Lincolnshire Council. All of these people on the streets at vast
expense to the taxpayer so that people can, in some cases, drink too much.
I’m no
killjoy nor do I want to do anything to harm the night-time economy since lots
of local people work in the clubs and bars and I supported the introduction of
24 hour licensing in the hope that it would bring about a culture change but,
like other north European nations such as Germany and Holland we seem unable to
adopt the drinking habits of the more southern European countries and perhaps
that means we need to restore a little more regulation.
One
culture change that does seem to have taken place is that many of our younger
people seem to go out with the intention of getting drunk, something that was
very much less prevalent until more recent years. The availability of cheap
alcohol from supermarkets seems to be the reason. In years gone by people went
to the pub and moved onto a club around 11 o’clock where they were able to
enjoy themselves until around 2 a.m.
I’m
opposed to minimum unit pricing because it penalises the responsible drinker
who wants to enjoy a few beers a bottle of wine at home but I do think there is
a case for preventing the supermarkets from selling booze at below cost.
Perhaps this coupled with returning to a slightly more regulated system of
licensing hours might mean we make life a little less fraught for the taxi
operators we spoke to, the police, the staff at A & E, the staff at the
Takeaways and as I mentioned earlier ease the burden on the taxpayer. What do
you think? Please let me know at martin.vickers.mp@parliament.uk
One rather
surreal moment occurred around midnight when we decided to have a bite to eat.
On our travels around Cleethorpes we were accompanied by Adrian Gill the
feature writer and restaurant critic for the Sunday Times who writes under the
name of A.A. Gill. As we took our place in Valentinos Italian restaurant in the
Market Place I mused on how often a London restaurant critic turns up
unannounced at a Cleethorpes eatery. My pizza was first-rate; will we ever know
what Adrian thought of his steak? Check out the Sunday Times for the next few
weeks, that’s if it wasn’t in yesterday.
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