Clause 105 - Search warrants: other amendments
Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill
3:30 pm
Ms Hazel Blears (Minister of State (Crime Reduction, Policing & Community Safety), Home Office; Salford, Labour)
I understand the point that the hon. Gentleman makes. He made a similar point in speaking to the previous amendment, when he asked what would happen if circumstances changed. It is a genuine and legitimate point. If an officer applies to court for a warrant based on a certain set of circumstances and the circumstances change, the officer will need to go back to the court. The warrant could be challenged if the circumstances were sufficiently different, as it could be claimed that it was obtained on evidence that had subsequently changed fundamentally.
We seek a degree of flexibility, but we do not want to go beyond the boundaries that would make it necessary to renew the authority for granting the warrant. We are keen to specify the need as tightly as we can, as it will give us the legitimacy to ask for a wider degree of flexibility. Provided that we meet our obligations as far as we can, it is perfectly proper to allow the police to ask for some flexibility. It is not proper to take a free-for-all, broad-brush position, and that is not what we seek to do. We think that we have the balance right; the hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield will have to consider whether he wishes to press the amendment to a Division if he feels that we have not done so. With that in mind, I have tried to give the Committee as many reassurances as I can.