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Offender Management Bill

My Lords, I support the amendment. My noble friend argued the case extremely well, as did other noble Lords who have contributed to the discussion. My noble friend on the government Front Bench is a reasonable person. If he listens to the arguments today, he cannot but agree that there is force to those points. I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone put those words into the Bill in the first place. They do not make any sense. I am sure that my noble friend is thinking: ““Why am I stuck with this one?””. It happens from time to time if one is a Minister: one is stuck with things. The best thing is to withdraw gracefully and accept that the arguments against the Bill as drafted are pretty good. I hope that my noble friend will meet the wishes of the House.