In a Commons statement on 21 June 2011, he announced that a new offenceof aggravated knife possession would be created, with a mandatory prison sentence of at least six months.
On Wednesday, 21-year-old Stacey McCaughey from Dullisk Way in Comber was released on bail after she appeared in court in Bangor charged with the offenceof perverting the course of justice and with making a false statement.
Under the act, anyone involved in an election campaign who "makes or publishes any false statementof fact in relation to the candidate's personal character or conduct" has committed an offence.