Serious Crime Bill [HL]

I sympathise with the Government on their aim. It is important that, as is stated in the Bill, the public should be protected. But this situation would in practice involve the equivalent of a criminal penalty and, given what we have heard from the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lyell, regarding the view taken in Strasbourg, I want further assurance about the Minister’s endorsement on the face of the document that the Bill’s provisions are compatible with convention rights. On further reflection, and having heard the points that have been made, does she maintain that this provision is human rights-proof? My view is that there may be cases—I presume that this is why the Government are bringing forward the Bill in this connection—where it would be difficult, for a whole host of reasons that I will not go into, to adduce the kind of evidence that would be heard in a criminal court. I would like to hear the Minister’s argumentation on whether, in a situation that inevitably is in the same ballpark as a criminal penalty by the restrictions set out in subsection (3), that is in reality nothing more or less than a criminal penalty.