Bribery Bill [HL]

I largely support my noble and learned friend for many reasons which he knows very well, but I am troubled by the example he gave of the baggage handler case, in which someone in the queue says, "I need to get on very quickly. Here’s a tenner. Please go and get my bag out quicker than you might otherwise do". My noble and learned friend asked whether we really want that to be criminalised and caught by the Bill. What worries me about this relates not only to the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Whitaker, but to the fact that the baggage handler is paid to do his job without favour. In my noble and learned friend’s example, the person is asking the baggage handler, "Please breach that requirement of your job as a favour to me". It would not have been impractical to suggest to the baggage handler, "Look, I’ve got this terrible problem. I’ve got to get to hospital quickly, so can you please have a look". That would not have involved a tenner. The tenner is there to induce the baggage handler to act corruptly, which is caught by the notion of corruption. If my noble and learned friend could help me with that, I shall be extremely relieved.