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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, for tabling Amendments 54A and 120A. The many objections to Clause 17 were made perfectly clear in Committee, but while the Government’s amendments are an improvement, they do not take account of the fundamental objection that the Government are asking for a power for which they cannot explain the need or how it will be used. This is quite extraordinary, given that there is clearly a growing problem with online copyright infringement via sites streaming copyrighted material. The Government were astonished to find that Clause 17 might be used to address this issue. Nevertheless, they appeared to agree that setting in place arrangements for blocking sites that make unlawful material available might be an acceptable alternative. Unfortunately, discussions between the Government and the Opposition have not resulted in an amendment on which all sides can agree. The sticking point appeared to be the security services, as the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, has explained. We on these Benches have therefore worked with the noble Lord and his party to address that concern, and our amendment would insert the consideration of national security, thus ensuring that, if these concerns are indeed justified, the Secretary of State can intervene to ensure that there are no unintended consequences from injunctions being granted. We will obviously keep such considerations under close review. We support Amendment 120A as an alternative to Clause 17, and hope very much that the Minister will agree to accept it as a necessary solution to a growing problem.