Serious Crime Bill [HL]

My Lords, from these Benches I also congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Marlesford, on his fight to widen the security and safety of the ordinary citizen. His original amendment, which we supported, has the great benefit of simplicity; he managed to encapsulate in short order all the necessary ingredients. We also congratulate him for clearly having pushed the Government along the road to a certain degree. We on these Benches are, for the moment, happy with the position that the Government have reached due to his efforts. The noble Lord would not expect me to follow him on civil liberties. The problem with criminals who engage in violent behaviour is that they have lost respect for other people and themselves. It is a great problem to try to rebuild that respect and inculcate a sense of self-respect in the individual. Our view is that the best way of doing that is recognising that every person, from whatever background he comes and whatever his disadvantages, is entitled to fundamental human rights. If he is in trouble, he is entitled to the right to a fair trial and the fair process of the law. That is fundamental to us. We feel that if those principles are followed and civil liberties and human rights are recognised and put in the forefront, there is a chance that the person who has gone astray will eventually learn respect for others and self-respect. That is why we on these Benches pursue those principles with all the fervour we can.