Clause 34
Serious Crime Bill [Lords]
5:15 pm
Vernon Coaker (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Gedling, Labour)
I shall simply repeat what we have said ad nauseam. There is a difference of view. We do not think that it is necessary for that to be on the face of the Bill. I have laid out what the Government expect with respect to the standard of proof and serious crime prevention orders. Indeed, even the hon. and learned Member for Torridge and West Devon has accepted that High Court judges are used to dealing with the sliding scale with respect to the standard of proof in civil proceedings. That is what we would expect. The McCann judgment clarified that the more serious the offence, the higher the standard of proof that one would expect to be necessary for the court to be convinced of anything. With respect to clause (1)(1)(a) one would almost expect it to be virtually identical to the criminal standard.