Serious Crime Bill [HL]

I agree very much with what the noble Lord, Lord Crickhowell, has said. These are very far-reaching provisions; it is a statement of the obvious that the more who know about a matter, the less confidential it is. We owe it to our fellow citizens to scrutinise these provisions very carefully. The Minister said on Second Reading that the powers to be given to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs would not include powers to go on fishing expeditions and trawl for information. She owes it to us and our fellow citizens to reconcile that statement with these provisions and to set out exactly what protections there are for the individual. The leaking of some of this information could be deeply damaging to entirely innocent people.