Serious Crime Bill [Lords]

Quite clearly, the Minister was seeking to dismiss the comments of the assistant commissioner, who told the Home Affairs Committee that he had changed his view and concluded that the time had come to review the use of intercept evidence. The assistant commissioner also helped to knock down a number of the other arguments against the use of intercept evidence. Another common one is that it would impose an undue burden on the police and intelligence agencies. The assistant commissioner said that this was"““a fairly moot point now, given that you can be very selective about the things you are going to transcribe if you are very precise on your investigation and focused.””" The fact is that the arguments for using intercept evidence are increasingly accepted by a large range of people, including the Attorney-General, the Director of Public Prosecutions and even the Government’s terrorism adviser Lord Carlile, who has accepted that the issue needs to be reviewed.