Serious Crime Bill [HL]

I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, for his support. I agree with him that the difficulty is that it is impossible for people to ascertain in advance the likely legal consequences of their actions as a direct result of the way in which the Bill is drafted. I accept a lot of what the Minister said. I will have to read very carefully what she said and consider further. The Minister argues that the Bill provides the right balance between certainty and flexibility because Schedule 1 provides guidance about the type of offence. We will deal with the detail of Schedule 1 later on, but she says in support of her argument that there are three separate reasons why it is appropriate that there should not be an exhaustive list. She talks about the fact that criminals, particularly the ones whom we are trying to get at here, are highly innovative and devious, and will adapt their methods in order to find the easiest way to make the most amount of money. I appreciate that it is difficult to provide an exhaustive list. The implication of the Minister’s argument is that if one has an exhaustive list, the serious criminal will simply say, ““Right, well that avenue is closed off so I will find something else””. I understand that argument. However, the Minister goes on to put three different scenarios in support of her argument. I will take them in reverse order, like a beauty contest. She said that the way in which one commits an offence can make it serious. It might be a multiple offence, or it might be the way in which one adapts a particular offence that makes it serious. I understand that the court might indeed be able to interpret seriousness in that way, because she also said that seriousness is well understood and there is jurisprudence on the matter. Those two matters go closely together and I can see her argument developing there. But she started with an argument that there is still some difficulty around. The Minister pointed out, quite rightly, that society is always evolving by its very nature. In support of her arguments, she said that new crimes pop up. We have seen the development of internet fraud and its use for paedophile activity. Society is rightly concerned about both. But the difficulty seems to be, ““We must be able to respond to new developments and new crimes””, but if an order is to be imposed, the court has to say that an activity is a crime anyway. In order to get to that stage Parliament would have to have been invited by the Government to have created an offence, the facilitation of which the court can then decide should be taken as being a serious offence. You cannot have a situation where some new innovative activity can bring a person into the order-making process. There has to be a crime first. I can see that the second and third arguments have to be taken very seriously as undermining my proposition but the first one leaves me some cause of concern. I may be able to resolve it at a later stage. At this stage, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. [Amendments Nos. 17 to 25 not moved.] Clause 2 agreed to. Clause 3 [Involvement in serious crime: Northern Ireland orders]: [Amendments Nos. 26 to 39 not moved.] Clause 3 agreed to.