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Serious Crime Bill [HL]

We wish to be associated with these amendments. We are also concerned that, as the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, has pointed out, at present an offence can be a serious offence for the purposes of the Bill if the court considers the circumstances of the case to be sufficiently serious to be treated as such. These amendments would remove that provision, meaning that an offence was only a serious offence if listed in Schedule 1 of the Bill. There has been a very worrying aspect of this clause. What is a serious offence, and what particular circumstances do the courts consider to be sufficiently serious to be treated as such? I mentioned that at Second Reading, and I said: "““In other words, the court can regard any offence that it likes as serious. That is an Alice in Wonderland definition; it is effectively saying that words can mean whatever the courts want them to mean””.—[Official Report, 7/2/07; col. 759.]" That does great damage to the principle of legal certainty, making it impossible for a person to ascertain in advance what are the likely legal consequences of their actions. The amendments would remove this provision, meaning that an offence had to be listed in Schedule 1 to be treated as a serious offence.