Counter-Terrorism Bill

My Lords, like the noble Baronesses, Lady Neville-Jones and Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer, I support the general thrust of this group of amendments, which are important in addressing a genuine and real problem. Like them, too, I have some concerns about the amount of time that noble Lords have had to consider the amendments, but I am particularly grateful to my noble friend Lord Myners for the considerable efforts that he has made in the past week or so to allow the fullest possible consideration of these detailed changes. One of the problems with these provisions appearing in a counterterrorism Bill, as they have had to because of the timetable with which we are now faced, is that this will lead, when the powers are used, to the sort of comments that we have heard in your Lordships’ House today about the use of so-called counterterrorist powers in freezing the assets of Landsbanki. That is unfortunate because, as I understand the situation, the powers used in that case were not specifically counterterrorism powers but, as they resided in a Bill that was primarily about counterterrorism, the assumption was that they were. There is a danger that a similar situation will arise in respect of these provisions, which are, quite properly, much broader than counterterrorism, because they will reside in what will ultimately be an Act that relates to counterterrorism. That is a problem that we have to face and the greatest possible clarity must be given to explanations relating to this. I have a specific question, which I hope that my noble friend can answer. He assured us that estate agents, casino owners and lawyers were not the subject of this Bill. We all acknowledge that they are popular categories of persons among some of your Lordships, but I wondered whether paragraph 8(1) of the new schedule would enable the Treasury to amend the paragraphs to which it refers to include other categories of persons. Perhaps we may have some clarity on that when my noble friend replies. My general point is that, if a country’s arrangements are so weak that it is easy for people to engage in money-laundering activities, the financing of terrorist activities or the financing of weapons of mass destruction, it is imperative that as a nation we have put in place powers that mean that people in this country who are engaged in trade or financial transactions with those countries are subject to the widest possible warnings and the widest possible expectations of what they should do to safeguard the position. Without such powers, we may not know what people in this country are implicitly supporting in terms of money-laundering. These provisions are important for that reason.