Fraud Bill [Lords]

I, too, have listened to the consultation. If I had not been listening, I—and, I daresay, my noble Friends—would be pressing for the removal of the common law power. I want to make it clear that I do not seek to do that because I have read what has been said. Distinguished as the group may be that has called for the retention of the powers, I remain mildly unconvinced. I hope that the Bill is sufficiently effective that it becomes crystal clear in two to three years that the common law offence of conspiracy to defraud is no longer necessary. The other option that one might consider if the offence remains necessary is whether that hole could be filled by something else, which does not have some of the problems that are associated with common law conspiracy to defraud that the Solicitor-General heard me discussing. He would, I am sure, be the first to acknowledge them. There may be a halfway house that we need to consider and that we have not yet explored. Conservative Members will not try to amend the Bill to get rid of common law conspiracy to defraud. However, knowing as we do the constraints on Government of timetabling and so on, we do not want the opportunity to slip through our fingers so that we end up with the offence in 10, 15 or 20 years. I believe that there might be some way of at least ensuring that the matter is properly revisited so that either the offence’s retention is justified or it disappears.