UK Parliament / Open data

Serious Crime Bill [HL]

Proceeding contribution from Baroness Meacher (Crossbench) in the House of Lords on Tuesday, 28 October 2014. It occurred during Debate on bills on Serious Crime Bill [HL].

I thank the Minister for her constructive response and all noble Lords who have spoken very constructively in this debate. I particularly thank my noble and learned friend Lady Butler-Sloss for her very important point that this amendment, unlike any other, would achieve deterrence, and that is what we want to do. We want to deter this dreadful act. We do not want just to prosecute after the event, although it is difficult ever to achieve a prosecution. If we can deter, we have really got to the goal that is now clearly shared across all sides of the House, which is to change the culture on FGM. We therefore need to change the way the leaders operate and the way they encourage people to indulge in this terrible act.

I also thank the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, for her very helpful support. We must try to find a form of words that the government lawyers, our lawyers and all other lawyers agree will achieve this incredibly important objective. On that basis, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
756 c1109 
Session
2014-15
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
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