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Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

My Lords, I am in the same difficulty as I was in Committee. If one leaves out proposed new subsection (3B)—the lines which the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, suggests should be omitted—an indeterminate sentence could be imposed only where an offender has previously committed a very serious offence such as murder or rape, as set out in Schedule 6. There are 22 very serious offences as distinct from the 153 offences set out in the other schedule. The amendment would reduce the number of those for whom an indeterminate sentence would be available. That is my view of the effect of the noble Lord’s amendment and I gather that it is shared by the Government. In the event that the amendment might succeed—I do not wish to be pre-empted—I had better develop my further argument on Amendment No. 53. What is the view of the House? I am giving the noble Lord a chance to say that he does not intend to press his amendment to a Division.