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Terrorism Bill

Because intercept evidence means a variety of different things to different people. Intercept evidence is phone tapping. Intercept evidence is bugging. It covers a whole range of things which might in certain circumstances be permissible. I say to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd of Berwick, that I am not claiming this will be out of court for ever. I am saying that once you permit intercept evidence of any sort, you have to explain why you do not permit intercept evidence of all sorts. I do not believe that we are sufficiently well attuned in this regard at the moment, but I do not rule the measure out completely. It would be foolhardy so to do because methodologies change all the time. But at the point where we are now I ask the noble Lord to reflect on what the commissioner has said on this point—the commissioner who is not fighting a particular corner, who is charged with the oversight of the safety of this information overall—that it would put us at an unacceptable risk.