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Terrorism Bill

I do understand that point, but it underlines how difficult it is to construct an offence in the terms in which the Government wish to construct it. That is the underlying problem with the lack of definition—a lack of definition that we have seen elsewhere. For the purposes of this evening, I am more attracted, for purely practical reasons, to the prospect of voting down Government amendment No. 34 for reasons that I have already adduced. Because amendment No. 19 uses the Government’s own wording—up to the point at which it goes barmy—for the purposes of this evening it is a very satisfactory amendment to the Bill. It can then be further considered in another place, where we may be able to construct a better alternative to the whole offence that will secure the Government’s objectives without giving rise to the unforeseen—or perhaps all too easily foreseen—consequences that the hon. and learned Member for Medway and I fear will otherwise arise. So I intend to advise my right hon. and hon. Friends to vote against the Government’s amendment and to support, if he chooses to press it, the amendment in the name of the hon. Member for Beaconsfield.