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Terrorism Bill

As I briefly introduced this debate, I think that it falls to me to wind up. The contribution of the noble Lord, Lord Stoddart, raised an interesting idea in my mind—that if someone wrote an article in a magazine or newspaper praising the conduct of Mr Arthur Scargill and the National Union of Mineworkers at Saltley during the 1973 miners’ strike and said that it was a model that trade unions should follow in future, arguably that could amount to the encouragement of terrorism. That conduct involved serious violence. Much as I disapprove of what happened at Saltley, I certainly would not wish it to be said to be a terrorist operation; nor would I wish to see the National Union of Mineworkers become a proscribed organisation. This group of amendments raises issues that have caused enormous concern not only to our universities and libraries but also, as my noble friend Lord Greaves and others have said, to much wider circles. In this country we pride ourselves, rightly, on our universities and our standards of academic freedom, and we are alarmed by any threat to them. The government amendments—I have pleasure in saying this—have to a considerable extent met our concerns on Clause 1 and, in effect, have entirely met our concerns in relation to Clause 6, but they have not done so in relation to Clause 2. In later groups we will come to specific proposals for changes which need to be made to Clause 2. I recognise that the wording of these amendments is not in a form appropriate for inclusion in the Bill, but they are being brought forward by my noble friend Lady Williams—a former Secretary of State for Education who has had very close involvement with universities on both sides of the Atlantic—as probing amendments. In that way, they have been successful because they have led to a serious and valuable debate. I hope that the Minister will bring forward amendments to deal with our concerns on Clause 2, but, until we see those amendments, for the purposes of this debate we have to ignore them. We cannot simply take for granted something whose terms we do not know. Having said that, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 1, as amended, agreed to. Clause 2 [Dissemination of terrorist publications]: Lord Goodhart had given notice of his intention to move Amendment No. 22:"Page 2, line 48, at beginning insert ““Unless he is a person to whom section 3(11) applies,””" The noble Lord said: I do not intend to move this amendment at this time, because it is a paving amendment for a larger group of amendments concerned with Clause 3 and would be better discussed at that point. [Amendment No. 22 not moved.]