Clause 68
Serious Crime Bill [Lords]
2:46 pm
Geoffrey Cox (Torridge and West Devon, Conservative)
I rise to support my hon. Friend’s amendment. We are here creating an agency with immense powers; even Government Members must acknowledge that. Part of the debate in this Committee over the last few days and weeks has been about whether or not those vast powers that are being entrusted to this agency are right, or whether they are unprecedented and unwise. However, on any view, the Ministers have not disguised the fact that we are talking about large powers.
It is an astonishing thing when a High Court judge should say what was said in the case of UMBS Online Limited v. Serious Organised Crime Agency, the case that my hon. Friend referred to. It means that there is grave reservation throughout the judiciary about the levels of accountability of SOCA. I say to the Minister that, if it is true that the current Government are inclined to extend the functions of this House in the monitoring and supervision of democracy in this country, that democratic accountability ought to extend to such agencies, which are entrusted and empowered to take away the liberties of individual citizens, on the balance of probabilities and on affidavit evidence without trial. The mechanism proposed by my hon. Friend is reasonable, measured and subject to all the safeguards of this House to ensure that only proper decisions are taken. I urge the Minister and other Government Members to think seriously about it.