New Clause 3
Fraud Bill [Lords]
9:30 am
David Heath (Shadow Leader of the House of Commons & Shadow Cabinet Office Minister, Cabinet Office; Somerton and Frome, Liberal Democrat)
I am extremely grateful to the Solicitor-General for his helpful comments. He admonished me a little on the drafting of my new clause. The provision is analogous to that set out in the Sexual OffencesAct 2003 and uses almost exactly the same terms. It is not such an extraordinary provision, as the British Government already have the jurisdiction or ability to prosecute for any sexual offence carried out by any person anywhere in the world on the exact same basis. That is the section that I have lifted, effectively en bloc. Of course, the limiting factor is the decision to investigate and prosecute. It is completely impractical to investigate and prosecute every offence that occurs anywhere, and we would not wish to. The new clause would allow there to be no blockage to procedures against any person.
I share some of the misgivings about extra-territorial jurisdiction. Indeed, I often criticise the ambitions of the United States in that respect and the fact that that its jurisdiction applies to British citizens as a result of the extraordinary asymmetric extradition arrangements we have with it, but that is another matter.