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Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

My Lords, I support my noble friend Lord Kingsland. He may consider that to be either a relief or a surprise, judging by some of the things that I said earlier. These violent offender orders are viewed with considerable distaste by the Joint Committee on Human Rights. However, small the VOOs are, they remain a punishment; because if you say to someone that you may not do something, that is a punishment. We also thought that the standard of proof required was not high enough. We will come to that later. I accept what other noble Lords have said—that the Government have gone a little down the way to help, for which I thank them—but they need encouragement to go a little further. In other words, my noble friend Lord Kingsland’s version is considerably clearer and better. The whole concept is more closely defined in his amendment than in the Government’s, which seems to have leaks at the edges. I shall certainly support my noble friend.