Terrorist Asset-Freezing etc. Bill [HL]

Lord Borrie Excerpts

Wednesday 6th October 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hamwee]

I thank my noble friend. I could not have afforded that advice but I am very grateful for it. As I said, it may not be an appropriate analogy but it has occurred to me that people whom the public might regard as being a long way away from being responsible for something could be charged under the joint enterprise head with a very serious offence, and I should not like to see that applied here. These amendments are tabled in order to understand the Government’s thinking on this clause better than, I confess, I do at the moment. I beg to move.

[Lord Borrie]

My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, and her colleague whose name is also attached to this amendment have raised very serious matters. After all, vagueness is not appropriate to the creation of a criminal offence and nor does it seem appropriate when the results may be the drastic ones described by several noble Lords in the previous debate. If being involved is something other than having committed or having attempted to commit an offence, what is it? Being involved seems to be so general and unspecific that it seems inappropriate even to legislation which is concerned with preventive matters rather than with a known criminal act that has been committed. I think that the Government are called upon to explain this.