Clause 75 - Criminal lifestyle
Proceeds of Crime Bill
11:30 am
Mr Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster, Conservative)
Clearly, clause 75 is of key importance. My hon. Friends the Members for Beaconsfield and for Surrey Heath (Mr. Hawkins) rightly said that the clause, as currently couched, adds an extra layer of uncertainty. Has consideration been given to reverting
subsection (2) to a list of offences that would not be caught? Would that be a more sensible way of proceeding? It would be easy, for example, to envisage the inversions of paragraphs (d) and (e). No doubt summary offences would be part and parcel of that. I hope that the Minister understands the genuine and principled concern of Conservative Members about a large and uncertain clause that could be added to on an ad hoc basis. Would the matter be easier if the clause was negative, rather than positive, listing the offences that would not be caught?