Coroners and Justice Bill

Amendment 60 seeks to add to Clause 48 the words "caused by gross provocation" as an explanation of why the defendant lost control and killed his victim. This is more a question of language than substance, but it is no less important for that. I recall that in Committee the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Scotland, pointed out that Clause 49(4) contained a qualifying trigger to the defendant’s actions if his loss of self-control was attributable to, ""a thing or things done or said (or both) which—""(a) constituted circumstances of an extremely grave character"," and, (b), caused the defendant, ""to have a justifiable sense of being seriously wronged".—[Official Report, 7/7/09; col. 582.]" The noble and learned Baroness suggested that while the words "gross provocation" were not mentioned anywhere, their meaning was none the less captured by that subsection. I do not disagree with that analysis but I still feel that the term "gross provocation", which is long established and well understood, is worth preserving in the body of legislation. I believe that the term is more easily understood by a jury than the term "loss of control", which, without the necessary qualifications and explanations, sounds more anodyne than the behaviour we are describing. I understand that the General Council of the Bar shares this concern and that it suggests that "loss of control" will not convey the right message. In its view, and ours, "loss of control" does not convey the same standing or high threshold as "gross provocation". For that reason we urge the Government to reconsider the Bill’s drafting in this area. The amendment does not seek to change the substance of the partial defence but rather its description. Words are important and can play a role in informing perceptions. If the Government do not wish to change the drafting at this stage, the House would very much welcome a clear statement from the Minister on how "loss of control" will be interpreted in practice. For the reasons I have given in introducing Amendment 60—namely, that we are concerned about the interpretation of "loss of control" rather than whether the new partial defence is sound—we cannot support Amendment 61 tabled by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd of Berwick. We have said at every stage that we regret how the Government are introducing these reforms. This should have been a Coroners Bill, a Reform of the Law of Murder Bill or any number of separate Bills. The Bill lumps together wildly disparate topics as the Government try to spatchcock in as many ideas as they can while they can. Perhaps I am being too cynical, but the reform of the law of murder and the partial defences which we are seeking and debating are huge and important topics that deserve full parliamentary scrutiny. However, we have the Bill that the Government have presented to us, and we accept the changes that these clauses seek to make. I hope the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd, accepts that we do not believe that we should remove the clause from the Bill, but we have considerable reservations about it. I beg to move.