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Crime and Policing Bill

My hon. Friend makes that point very well. These individuals are exploited by serious and organised criminal gangs, and we are going to clamp down on those gangs’ activity.

New clause 53 re-enacts the offence of being on enclosed premises for an unlawful purpose. It will make it an offence for a person to trespass on any premises—that covers any building, part of a building or enclosed area—with the intention of committing an offence. Without this replacement offence, the police would be able to rely only on the trespassing provisions in the Theft Act 1968, which covers trespassing only in relation to burglary. It is important that the police have the powers to tackle all cases of trespassing with intent to commit an offence, and new clause 53 will ensure that.

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New clause 82 amends the Extradition Act 2003. Under that Act, the UK can accept extradition requests where the requested person has already been convicted in the requesting state. When considering these cases, if the requested person was convicted in their absence and a UK judge determines that they did not deliberately absent themselves from their trial, a UK judge is bound by the 2003 Act to determine whether the individual is entitled to a retrial in the requesting state. First, the new clause aligns the provisions of the 2003 Act with the trade and co-operation agreement, which governs the right to a retrial in the context of UK-EU extradition co-operation. This will improve legal certainty and remove opportunities for confusion in the extradition system.

Secondly, the new clause responds to a recent Supreme Court ruling to the effect that the current drafting of the 2003 Act should be read as requiring a guaranteed retrial in the requesting state. The 2003 Act had previously been interpreted as a right to apply for a retrial, subject to the domestic laws of the requesting state. Several states cannot offer assurances to meet the conditions imposed by the judgment, and there is therefore a public safety risk of individuals being discharged if the new interpretation of the 2003 Act is left to stand. New clause 82 therefore reinstates the previous interpretation, which is that only the right to apply for a retrial is required to permit extradition in a case where the person was absent from the trial.

I want to comment on a few other Government amendments. First, in Committee, the Government added to the Bill provisions that are now clauses 29 to 33, which introduce a two-step verification process for the sale and delivery of knives and crossbows purchased online. Those provisions apply where a knife, crossbow or part of a crossbow is delivered to a residential address.