Results 1-20 of 1,289 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:David Howarth

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Antisocial Behaviour (Sentencing) (10 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: One problem is that a lot of what the authorities treat as antisocial behaviour is in reality crime—such as assault, criminal damage and public order offences. Should those offences not be treated as crime, rather than dealt with under a civil procedure?

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Antisocial Behaviour (Sentencing) (10 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: I thank the Minister for that answer, but is not the real point that the effectiveness of sentencing for those offences should be judged according to the type of offence, and not be treated as a rather less important matter, such as antisocial behaviour? Should not the Government look for sentences such as restorative justice, which work against real crime and do not downplay the seriousness...

Bill Presented: Clause 45 — Meaning of "qualifying trigger" (9 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: That is precisely why it is important that if there is to be a subsection 6(c), it refers to 4(a), as my amendment does, or to 4(b) rather than to the first words in subsection (4) because those words cannot possibly apply in terms to sexual infidelity.

Bill Presented: Clause 45 — Meaning of "qualifying trigger" (9 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: claimed to move the closure ( Standing Order No. 36). Question put forthwith, That the Question be now put. Question agreed to.

Bill Presented: Clause 45 — Meaning of "qualifying trigger" (9 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: First, I agree with what the hon. and learned Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Grieve) said about this being the first time that the Bill's murder provisions have been considered on the Floor of the House. It is extraordinary that the business was arranged in such a way that we could not discuss these and many other important issues about the law of murder. I also associate myself with the hon....

Bill Presented: Clause 45 — Meaning of "qualifying trigger" (9 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: Precisely, but there is still the judge saying those words to the jury, and it is for the jury to decide what they mean in a particular case. Therefore, even the Government have not succeeded in taking the case entirely away from the jury. What does "disregard" mean? It is for the jury to make that assessment.

Bill Presented: Clause 45 — Meaning of "qualifying trigger" (9 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: One of the most important aspects of the jury system is that the jury gives no reasons, so we never know the answer to such questions. I agree with the Government that there is no reason in principle why the legislature should not set the criminal law. It is for Parliament to say what the law should be, and Parliament is perfectly entitled to say that certain excuses should not count. That in...

Bill Presented: Clause 45 — Meaning of "qualifying trigger" (9 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: Under my amendment, all such issues would be for the jury to decide. I find it difficult to believe that the jury would find in the direction that the Minister suggests.

Bill Presented: Clause 45 — Meaning of "qualifying trigger" (9 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: The Minister cannot have it both ways. First she says that my amendment catches more cases of sexual infidelity, and now she claims that it catches too few. I wish the Government would make up their mind.

Bill Presented: Clause 45 — Meaning of "qualifying trigger" (9 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: But that is the whole point of the words, "where D acted principally out of". The Minister's example does not work.

Bill Presented: Coroners and Justice Bill (9 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: I shall deal first with the amendments tabled by the hon. Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore), which I support, and then with the Government motion to disagree to the Lords amendment introduced by my noble Friend Baroness Miller. I have tried to emphasise throughout the debates on this part of the Bill that the question is not whether there are circumstances in which certain things have to be...

Bill Presented: Coroners and Justice Bill (9 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: I fully take the hon. Gentleman's point. The whole purpose of investigations is to make state officials accountable in a way that they would otherwise avoid. To the extent that we do not go along the route that the hon. Member for Hendon suggests, we will allow unaccountable state action of that sort to take place. The Government talk about national security, but as we have argued all along,...

Bill Presented: Coroners and Justice Bill (9 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: I believe that my right hon. Friend is talking about cases that never start, but I am talking about trials that are halfway through. Perhaps we should study those cases in detail, but the cases in which that has happened have struck me as being more of a political nature than those he describes.

Bill Presented: Coroners and Justice Bill (9 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: That is the type of case I had in mind. If right hon. and hon. Members have different examples in mind, perhaps they should mention them. I believe that for the most part, the Government are taking comfort in an illusion. The comfort that they believe they feel does not really exist, because coronial cases and criminal trial cases are much closer than they imagine. In the end, it comes down...

Bill Presented: Coroners and Justice Bill (9 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: In what I have said so far, I have spoken solely about the proposal of the hon. Member for Hendon, without considering the wiretap point, to which I will come separately. Both situations involve the same sort of judgment, although different levels of risk might be involved, as the right hon. and learned Gentleman says. I can understand the point made by the hon. and learned Member for...

Bill Presented: Coroners and Justice Bill (9 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: Is the Secretary of State saying the following? On the one side, there is some risk—although presumably a very remote one—that a coronial judge might reveal information to the parties the revelation of which would be damaging to a party, or that a jury that contains people who are not secure might receive certain information. On the other side, there is a risk that sometimes...

Bill Presented: Coroners and Justice Bill (9 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: Will the Secretary of State also confirm that clause 13, as originally drafted, allowed the use of intercept evidence?

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: New Clause 19 — Amendment of Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866 (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. It is something of a shame that a new clause that looks modest but would have the effect of changing our system of Government entirely comes before the Committee with only seven minutes to go before the knife. I therefore do not expect that it will get a proper airing or any proper debate tonight. The new clause deals with the control of...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Clause 42 — Employment etc of a former Comptroller and Auditor General (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: Yes, of course I will seek leave to withdraw amendment 29, and I thank the Government and the Father of the House for the explanation offered as to the change. It makes sense for this provision to be more flexible and to take into account the chance that the appropriate body to consult might change. I shall not be pressing amendment 31 to a Division either, but the explanation that the...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Clause 42 — Employment etc of a former Comptroller and Auditor General (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Howarth: That explains things, and I thank the Minister. Obviously the issue here is whether someone could be made such a big offer of such a big job and such a large salary that they might be tempted by it, even with a two-year delay. I recognise that that is somewhat unlikely, even in the public sector of today. With that, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave,...