Clause 1 - Aggravated supply of controlled drug
Drugs Bill
10:30 am
Mr Alistair Carmichael (Shadow Minister (Northern Ireland), Northern Ireland Affairs; Orkney and Shetland, Liberal Democrat)
It is not really. I am not going to make a fuss about the matter, but I do not see how such a requirement would cut across the work of the Sentencing Guidelines Council. It would have the benefit of concentrating the mind of the sentencing judge on the extent to which the offence has been aggravated. The work of the Sentencing Guidelines Council would be to give better guidance and perhaps to achieve better uniformity in what was applied. However, if we had that degree of transparency, it would show whether the work of the Sentencing Guidelines Council was unnecessary or very necessary.