Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

It is certainly a reason, because one day custody plus may be brought in. Another reason is that we do not believe that the magistrates’ powers should be given to pass a sentence of up to 65 weeks’ custody. I hope that that was clear from our objection to the noble Lord’s last amendment to raise the maximum sentence for a single offence from six months. Everyone knows that the maximum sentence that the magistrates can impose for however many offences they deal with is a total of 12 months; in other words, 52 weeks.