Clause 2 - Penalty notices
Criminal Justice and Police Bill
12:00 pm
Mr Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath, Conservative)
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, and I am sure that he is right. I did not see the article that the hon. Member for Taunton saw, but I have seen similar budgeting done. Indeed, a column is running in The Daily Telegraph at present that is based on the fictitious account of the life of a woman in the City of London, and I believe that that contains similar arrangements, so I am sure that it is based on truth. The hon. Member for Southwark, North and Bermondsey reinforces my argument. We retain serious concerns; we will listen to what the Minister has to say, but the proposal has been rushed and contains serious problems. The Government would certainly have been wiser to await detailed responses to the Auld review—which they themselves set in train—before making this proposal, in which they appear not to have properly thought through issues of legal principle.