John Battle Pays Tribute to Leeds Community Leaders and Police

John asked the Home Secretary a question in Parliament on 20 July after his statement on the London terror attack. Read Full debate.

John Battle (Leeds, West) (Lab): I thank my right hon. Friend for his calm and measured leadership in the past two weeks. Will he join me in offering a word of tribute to people in the Burley Lodge area in Leeds? I rushed home on Tuesday because they were evacuated from their homes while the whole area was searched for a bomb factory. When I got to the community centre, I found that only 34 people from the 470 homes that had been evacuated were there because the rest had been taken into the homes of families, friends and neighbours, cutting across racial, religious and cultural divides. That quietly demonstrates the forbearance and tolerance that could be a hope for the future in our communities.

I thank my right hon. Friend for the way in which the police and the security services worked together with the local community at the tape barrier during the crisis; that was a model of police and community relations. Does he agree, however, that while we work on the taskforce initiative and on building a consensus for necessary new legislation, it will be crucial in the next few weeks that all sections of the community, including peoples of different faiths and none, work together to ensure that we are vigilant—watching out for each other—without turning into vigilantes? Life could be difficult in our neighbourhoods unless we develop a deep respect and calm in our neighbourhoods while we work to address the complex challenges that this has thrown up.

Mr. Clarke: I am grateful for my right hon. Friend's remarks, particularly his references to vigilance and respect. Those are key words for us all in the way that we operate, and he is right to highlight them.

I join my right hon. Friend in paying tribute to the police and community leaders in Leeds. In the immediate aftermath of the events, I was particularly glad to have his advice on how to deal with them. I pay tribute to the role that he played in seeking to lead his community in the direction that he describes, which has been very important.

©John Battle MP 21 July 2005