I said that I hoped to be able to thank the noble and learned Lord, and I do for a crumb of comfort. I am grateful for his offering to lend his best efforts to encourage—even if it is not possible for him to persuade—the Law Commission. It is rightly firmly independent and ought always to remain so. I am glad that his voice will be added to mine in hoping that it will address the matter.
I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, for his support; and for the teasing of the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford. If I had been accused of being a feminist 40 years ago, I would have been surprised; not now. Age does not wither one, it makes one even more determined to try to make changes that are fit for purpose. I am sure that marriage would survive the abolition of this rule. I am happy to accept that his historical perspective may be more accurate than mine. As the noble and learned Lord the Attorney-General said, there is always the issue of compellability. We went through that when we discussed the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 in the previous Session.
However, when considering conspiracy to defraud, one is increasingly considering a paper trail, an audit of activity, especially in the IT age. Some of the difficulties in proving conspiracy to defraud where a husband and wife have been acting together may not be as burdensome to the prosecution in future—at least I hope so. I accept what the noble and learned Lord said about the fact that my amendment focuses on just one part of conspiracy to defraud. I recognise that that is a defect.
On the other hand, he is also right to recognise that I am impatient and would have preferred to make at least some small advance to nibble away at what is defective in the law. I appreciate that the Bill is not an appropriate context and I will not bring the matter back on Report. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Clause 11 [Obtaining services dishonestly]:
Fraud Bill [HL]
Proceeding contribution from
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
(Conservative)
in the House of Lords on Tuesday, 19 July 2005.
It occurred during Committee of the Whole House (HL)
and
Debate on bills on Fraud Bill [HL].
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
673 c1456 
Session
2005-06
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
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Timestamp
2024-04-21 13:25:01 +0100
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