Clause 5
Fraud Bill [Lords]
12:15 pm
David Heath (Shadow Leader of the House of Commons & Shadow Cabinet Office Minister, Cabinet Office; Somerton and Frome, Liberal Democrat)
My amendment in the group is No. 8, and it probes a point similar to that raised by the hon. Member for Beaconsfield. The definitions of gain and loss are imported from the Theft Act 1968, but when we deal with fraud we deal with slightly more mutable subject matter.
My concern is about the phrase
“not getting what one might get”.
One “might get” all sorts of things. One might get things illegally, through serendipity or in a number of ways that should not be encompassed by the definition in the clause. My amendment would insert the words “reasonably and lawfully”, which would at least provide a concept of entitlement—the word used by the hon. Gentleman. It would provide the concept of someone having a reasonable and lawful expectation to receive something. That would narrow the scope a little, without in any way destroying the essential element in the definition or what the Government are trying to achieve.