I am not one to agree with the Tories on policy, indeed my whole political life has been about winning seats, both parliamentary and council, from Tories (and I don't have a bad record either). However, it is hard to disagree with what the Tories have said today about bail laws.
We have in the last few months had numerous examples in the news of people on bail who have committed further serious offences,rapes and murders, because the law on bail seems to be framed in such as way as to make the granting of bail an absolute right with only certain extreme and unusual circumstances meaning that bail is denied.
Obviously granting less bail, or actually having higher financial burdens placed on bail, with these being appropriate to the person's wealth, seems eminently sensible.
The very fact that nearly half of those people who breached their bail conditions got a fine averaging just £61 shows how laughable our current bail laws are.
So on this issue I think the Tories are making the right noises. Of course we don't want to live in a "hang em and flog em" country, and we must presume a level of innocence before trial, but when the sanctions imposed on people who break bail conditions is so pathetic it makes a mockery of the whole legal system.
1 comment:
Nic, you know you're really a Conservative. Deep down. History is history and much of what the party says today is in tune with your thinking.
Reflect!
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