Serious Crime Bill [HL]

I do not know whether the noble Lord, Lord Burnett, wants to intervene before I withdraw the amendment, but perhaps I shall say a few words first. I assure the noble Lord, Lord Thomas, that our amendments were tabled so thatwe could ask the Minister to put on record the Government’s reasoning behind their rejection of the wider interpretation of the offence. Having said that, I must say how grateful my noble friend and I arefor the Minister’s detailed explanation, which I will certainly study with care. I think that it dealt with all the problems. I was interested in the Minister’s response to the amendments in the names of the Liberal Democrat Peers. As one who likes things to be explained in very simple terms, I was rather hoping that she might respond to the three examples that the noble Lord, Lord Burnett, gave. One thinks particularly of the motorist changing lanes on the motorway to allow someone who is speeding to go past. That is something that we have all done on many occasions, and we would be greatly interested to know whether we would be committing an offence if we did so.