Clause 2
Fraud Bill [Lords]
10:45 am
Mike O'Brien (Solicitor General, Law Officers' Department; North Warwickshire, Labour)
I am grateful for the way in which Opposition Members have raised their views on the clause, and for the general support for it. I have one point to make to the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath): the current definition of dishonesty was established, as the explanatory notes say, in the case of Ghosh in 1982. The judgment sets out a two-stage test. To respond to the hon. Gentleman’s point about dishonesty, the first question is whether the defendant’s behaviour would be regarded as dishonest by the ordinary standards of reasonable and honest people. If the answer is positive, the second question is whether the defendant was aware that his conduct was dishonest and would be regarded as dishonest by reasonable and honest people. That is the approach to dishonesty that we want to see the Bill take.