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Armed Forces Bill

I thank the Minister for that very helpful explanation and I thank all noble Lords who have spoken in support. The difficulty that I have with the Minister's distinction between acting and what he said is ““showing an intention of acting”” is that Clause 7(1)(a) talks about intention. Therefore, the provision deals not just with the act of committing a mutiny but with the fact that people have agreed to do so. It seems to me that, if they have agreed, there is an intention of being mutinous. I put these provisions all together because of the wording of Clause 7(1)(a), which mentions a person who, "““knows that a mutiny is occurring or is intended””." The use of the word ““intended”” seemed to me to cover the first provision of Clause 6, which talks about agreeing with one or more people. Nevertheless, in view of what the Minister and everyone else have said, I shall be very happy to beg leave to withdraw the amendment.