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Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

Amendment No. 74 would insert a new clause with three subsections. I am effectively degrouping subsection (3) from subsections (1) and (2) of our new clause. Subsections (1) and (2) are wholly on the same lines as Amendment No. 15 of the noble Lord, Lord Norton, and are a necessary part of this debate, whereas subsection (3)—I should probably never have grouped them together to begin with—raises an entirely different debate with which there will be an opportunity to deal next week. It is not a formal degrouping—I accept that that is not possible. I am unable to support Amendment No. 13 because, first, a power to create offences with a penalty of up to two years is already contained in the 2001 Act. A significant case would therefore have to be made for deleting it from the new Bill. Secondly, new offences will in practice need to be created by orders made under this Bill where they replace previous regulations which have contained criminal sanctions. It is clear that if relatively minor offences can be created under existing legislation or under this Bill, then it is appropriate to have an equivalent power to abolish them. However, offences carrying higher penalties should not be abolished without a full debate and full proceedings by primary legislation. For example, it would be wholly inappropriate to decriminalise drugs, if a future government decided to do so, without primary legislation covering such a serious crime. The same principle applies where the offence is retained but the maximum penalty for it is reduced. I have nothing to add to what the noble Lord, Lord Norton, said, because I am entirely in agreement with the principle behind his Amendment No. 15.