Clause 10 - Available amount
Proceeds of Crime Bill
5:30 pm
Mr Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath, Conservative)
At an earlier stage in the debate, the Under-Secretary quoted some of the discussions when the original legislation was being debated in 1986. The Minister asked why such issues were not raised then. I have had the benefit of reading Hansard and of reminding myself of the Second Reading debate in 1986. I direct the Minister to the comments about protecting the innocent made then by Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, who, as the Minister knows, was the Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee until the general election. On 21 January 1986 he expressed his worries about the measure's accidental effects on the innocent, as we are doing this afternoon. His speech appears in Hansard in column 246 onwards.