On the day before Christmas Eve a response was made by Keith Stewart in the House of Lords from a written question that had been sent by Steve Bassam. It is not clear why Steve asked this question but it does seem to be very reasonable and indeed a sensible answer would be produced. Tragically the response from the Government was deeply inadequate on several levels. The CPS or Crown Prosecution Service was an element that emerged in the answer and given it is defined on its website as

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecutes criminal cases that have been investigated by the police and other investigative organisations in England and Wales. The CPS is independent, and we make our decisions independently of the police and government.

Our duty is to make sure that the right person is prosecuted for the right offence, and to bring offenders to justice wherever possible.

Anyway back to the question and answer

Steve Bassam: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many cases have been brought to court relating to charges made at England Euro 2020 matches played at Wembley.

Keith Stewart: No central data is kept that would identify how many cases have been brought to court specifically relating to charges made at England Euro 2020 matches. To obtain this information would require a manual review of CPS case files which would come at a disproportionate cost.

Steve Bassam is the Lord of Brighton who I have met in the past and he was the leader of the Brighton Council many years ago. Before that he was involved in Sussex University and he lived as a squatter many years ago in our City. He was appointed as the Lord of Brighton in 1997. The answer came from Keith Stewart who is a Queen’s Counsel and he was appointed as the Advocate General for Scotland in October 2020. Queen’s Counsels (QC) are barristers or solicitor advocates who have been recognised for excellence in advocacy. Back on the 6th November 2020 he was appointed as Lord Stewart of Dirleton and according to his history he attended the Dirleton Primary School in Edinburgh.

The reality is that if someone wants to assess the number of events that have taken place following a public event, it would seem reasonable for the Government to be able to call onto the CPS to do the assessment, even if this does require time and manual activities. How do we persuade people like Keith Stewart to determine what is reasonable.