I have no idea whether that was a yes or a no to my question. I assume the two points the noble Lord made were his two best points and the other two were no better than that, so I do not know where the Liberal Democrats stand in relation to that now.
In relation to the sex-for-rent offence, various points were made about whether the case of the landlady who seduces the male tenant and then does not charge rent should be an offence. I am more than happy to work out whether there should be certain defences available. As the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy of Cradley, made clear, it is something that urgently needs criminalisation—and criminalisation that does not require the victim to be either characterised as engaged in prostitution or incited to commit prostitution. The implication of the law, even if it gives the victim anonymity, is that by succumbing to the sex-for-rent proposal the person is forced to become engaged in prostitution. That is not the way the law should be. There should just be a straightforward criminalisation of it.
Of course, I am sure that the offence can be made better in terms of its drafting but it is a drafting issue, not an issue of substance between us. If we do not do it in this Bill, when will we do it? The point that the
noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy of Cradley, makes is almost unanswerable: there has been one prosecution. I could not work out whether there is maybe another one coming, from what she said. That would make it two, over years, and it is wholly unacceptable that that is the position.
10 pm
In relation to the two reviews, of spiking and exposure, the noble Baroness, Lady Williams, said that the Government keep all the criminal law under review. Honestly, from my experience, they do not. The criminal law is not kept constantly under review. The things that the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice look at are the things that require urgent attention. The things that require the most urgent attention are those requiring a review as a result of a statute, and that is why we propose a review based on a statutory requirement to do it.
The last point is in relation to Amendment 292T, which concerns deaths that occur under the rough sex defence. It may well be that substantial thought needed to go into that, but surely the answer to that one would then be that there is a review in relation to that issue, so that there would be some hope that legislation might follow. Despite my extreme disappointment—more with the Liberal Democrats, noble Lords have probably noticed, than with the Government on this occasion—I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.