Terrorism Bill

I will give them serious consideration, but I make the point—not in an antagonistic spirit—that the definition of civil war is often just as difficult to achieve as the definition of terrorist or freedom fighter. There is no easy definition that solves the problem. I want explicitly to acknowledge the concerns raised by my right hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Itchen in his amendment. It is categorically our view that we need a definition that is wide enough to encompass the types of matter that I have addressed and we also need to restate the commitment made yesterday by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Policing, Security and Community Safety to look again at the issue of intent—a key point to which my right hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Itchen also referred. Clearly, if we have a tighter intent test, the number of people who would fall within the ambit of the new offences in clauses 1 and 2 would be restricted, which might meet some of his concerns about the type of terrorism we would be covering. However, those are difficult questions and we acknowledge the points that he and others have made, including my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hall Green (Steve McCabe) in his intervention today, and we are happy to see whether we can reach agreement in a way that achieves more consensus on that point for Report. I acknowledge the fact that my right hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Itchen seeks a slightly different definition in different areas to try to deal with those points.