Clause 75 - Criminal lifestyle
Proceeds of Crime Bill
11:45 am
Mr David Wilshire (Spelthorne, Conservative)
I appreciate that, Mr. McWilliam, and I accept your ruling. However, it is relevant to put my concerns into the context of what the Minister has regularly said are the arguments against them.
I hoped that the Minister would respond to one other general consideration, which arose out of the debate on amendment No. 270. The hon. Member for Glasgow, Pollok made an intervention with which I
hoped that the Minister would deal. He suggested that subsection (2)(c) could safely remain, so that the Executive and the legislature could make their meaning crystal clear to the courts, and the courts would do precisely what they were told, irrespective of whether the legislation was drafted correctly or whether they interpreted it right. The Minister should have addressed such a fundamental point. The fact that he did not do so leads me to wonder whether the amendments need to be taken a great deal more seriously than the Minister appears to have taken them. The hon. Member for Glasgow, Pollok sought to undermine the key safeguard of the liberties of the British subject—the rule of law, for which he would substitute the diktat of Parliament, or of the Executive. If that is the purpose of the provision, it is wrong; it is not only bad legislation, but wrong.
Are we moving towards saying, ''The Home Secretary of the day will decide that the courts are wrong. Hard luck.'' If so, I do not mind which political party provides the Home Secretary—this is not an attack on a Labour Home Secretary, and I hope that I would have the guts to stand up and say exactly the same thing if my party were to give that kind of power to a Conservative Home Secretary—it should not be allowed. However much the Government say that they do not intend to misuse the power, it undermines the rule of law. I accept exactly what the Minister says, and I offered him a way of dealing with the matter—to say that the provision would be for the duration of this Parliament, or for as long as his party provides the Home Secretary. If you read your history books, Mr. McWilliam, I am sure that you will agree that history teaches us that if there is a power that somebody can abuse, sooner or later somebody will abuse it.