Serious Crime Bill [HL]

I would like to add to the comments of my noble friend our opposition to the Conservative amendments, Amendments Nos. 95 and 96. We think that it should be at the very least necessary for the prosecution to prove that the person in the dock believed that an offence would be committed—in other words, has a subjective belief—and not that he had ““reasonable grounds to believe””, which would introduce an objective test into this criminal offence. We think that that would widen the offences very considerably and would be highly undesirable. We will say more on whether the clauses should stand part in a few moments.