Serious Crime Bill [HL]

The noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd, has our support on this amendment. He has been consistent for years on this and I am delighted that he has put forward the case in this amendment, which would permit the introduction of intercept evidence and evidence of communication data in certain criminal proceedings. Let me give the reasons for our support. One of the Government’s arguments in the Bill is that this new breed of civil orders is necessary—in particular, serious crime prevention orders and control orders. The difficulty that they see lies with prosecuting people involved in serious crime or terrorism. I understand that. We do not doubt that criminal prosecutions may well be more difficult, time-consuming and costly for the state than serious crime prevention order applications. But this is not a justification for abandoning the criminal justice system. Criminal prosecutions are more respectful of our democratic process and values, the rule of law and our human rights than the orders that we are asked to consider. Criminal prosecutions and prison sentences for those found guilty of serious crime would also be a far more effective way of providing justice to victims, a visible public deterrent and protections for the public. We therefore urge the Government to consider ways of overcoming any practical difficulties with the prosecution of those involved in serious crimes. In 2003, the Newton committee concluded that lifting the blanket ban on the use of intercepted communication in court would be, "““one way of making it possible to prosecute in more””," terrorism cases. It proposed the removal of the bar as a ““more acceptable and sustainable”” approach to the threat of terrorism than executive powers to restrict liberty which evade the criminal justice process. Since then, a number of other influential bodies have identified the removal of the bar on intercept evidence as a possible change to the criminal justice system. I am delighted that the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd, was able to identify all these organisations. The Government have themselves argued that one of the reasons why it may not be possible to prosecute those suspected of involvement in terrorism is that the evidence on which the suspicion is based would be inadmissible in court. The JCHR recently concluded that the ban on the use of intercept evidence in criminal proceedings should be removed. That is one of the strong grounds why we should support this amendment.