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Armed Forces Bill

moved Amendment No. 11: Page 4, line 17, leave out subsections (1) and (2) and insert- ““(1) A person subject to service law commits an offence if he takes part in a mutiny. (2) For the purposes of this section a person subject to service law takes part in a mutiny if- (a) in concert with at least one other person subject to service law, he- (i) acts with the intention of overthrowing or resisting authority; or (ii) disobeys authority in such circumstances as to subvert discipline; (b) he agrees with at least one other person subject to service law to overthrow or resist authority; or (c) he agrees with at least one other person subject to service law to disobey authority, and the agreed disobedience would be such as to subvert discipline.”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, I shall also speak to Amendments Nos. 12 and 13. I listened carefully to the concerns of noble Lords in Committee, particularly those of the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Craig, regarding the offence of mutiny and the manner in which the clause was originally drafted. I agreed to consider that, and on reflection I agreed that the clause could be redrafted in an effort to make the provision simpler to understand, not least by including the word ““mutiny”” in the body of the offence. There is no substantive change to the effect of the original clause; mutiny remains both an agreement to resist or overthrow authority and the act of doing so. Under Clause 7 as amended, it remains an offence to fail to suppress an act of mutiny but not to fail to suppress the agreement. I trust that addresses the concerns of the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Craig, and I am grateful to him for highlighting the issue. I trust that he regards this as a more satisfactory result.