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Serious Crime Bill [Lords]

The remarks that I am about to make will answer the hon. and learned Gentleman’s question, at least in my eyes if not in his. Clauses 34 and 35 set out that the civil standard will be applicable. However, we accept that that standard is flexible and that, in the light of the House of Lords judgment in the case of McCann, the court will probably expect the heightened civil standard of beyond reasonable doubt to apply when deciding whether a person has been involved in serious crime. If the hon. and learned Gentleman reads the McCann judgment, he will see that it makes it clear that there is a flexible standard that can be applied to civil orders and that, in respect of involvement in serious crime, the expectation would be that the level of evidence required, if not identical to the criminal standard, would be nearly identical to it. He may disagree with the House of Lords judgment, as the hon. Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy did, but—