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Coroners and Justice Bill

The position that I was going to come to is this: that whatever precise wording we have regard to, the practical consequences are the same. I would be prepared to accept what the noble Lord, Lord Bach, said in Committee: that this wording may be slightly more harsh. In my view, no judge would in fact come to any different conclusion because they had gone through the whole process of "having regard to" or the new process urged here. I say that the new approach in the Bill is more likely to achieve the purposes of the legislation creating the Sentencing Council, which is there to produce the required degree of consistency. If one is sentencing having regard to the terms of the clause, one first says, "Having regard to the guidelines, what is the correct sentence? In accordance with that, the sentence that I must pass is one that is in accord with those covered by the guidelines. However, if I am satisfied that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so, I will not pass a sentence which accords with the guidelines". It is very important to have in mind that we are talking about guidelines. They are not rigid rules but something which guides you. The way that the guidelines are drafted accords with what I have described in the majority of circumstances. I urge the House that that is an appropriate and sensible way of dealing with the matter, where judges up and down the country will know what to do and will get the necessary degree of guidance in accordance with the purpose of the guidelines in the legislation.