Clause 72
Counter-Terrorism Bill
9:45 am
Dominic Grieve (Shadow Attorney General, Law Officers; Beaconsfield, Conservative)
In clauses 72 and 74, there are amendments to the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005. It is not always easy to understand the reasoning behind the amendments themselves, but I am prepared to accept that the amendments may be necessary.
In the case of clause 72 on the meaning of involvement in terrorism-related activity, the words
“to be involved in terrorism-related activity”
are substituted by
“the individual concerned to be involved in conduct falling within paragraphs (a) to (c)”.
So, instead of relying of the definition of the words “terrorism-related activity”, in future it will rely upon the individual definitions contained in that part of the 2005 Act. I do not have a big issue with that, but then one sees the startling statement in subsection (2) that
“This amendment shall be deemed always to have had effect.”
This is a retrospective amendment to be carried back, presumably to the time when the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 was first enacted, which means that a person could not subsequently argue that because it was being suggested that the offence that they might have committed came in prior to this Act, they were not involved in a terrorism-related activity, even though it might have fallen within paragraphs (a) to (c).
The Minister will not be surprised to learn that I do not like that amendment. It is our task as parliamentarians to draft statute, and people are entitled to rely upon statute for their protection. When Sir Thomas More was confronted with the Act of Supremacy and with having to take the oath at Lambeth palace, he asked for a copy of the statute from which the oath had been drafted and pointed out to his interlocutors that he considered that the oath did not follow the terms of the statute. Much good did it do him, mind you, but it is an early example of the proper reliance that people in this country have been entitled to place upon the words that Parliament enacts.
We live in a society where you are entitled to do what you like unless Parliament prohibits it. This form of retrospective removal of a possible right that could be invoked by a defendant does not commend itself to me, and I need a lot of persuasion from the Minister as to why it should be included. It applies equally to the question of the application for anonymity for a controlled person where, again in clause 74, it says these amendments shall be deemed always to have had effect.
Will the Minister explain the scope of both the amendments of the Terrorism Act and also explain why, quite exceptionally it seems, that it is necessary that these amendments should be deemed always to have had effect?