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640 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Fifteenth sitting)In that circumstance, the defence of duress would be available to the victim in the ordinary way.30 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Fifteenth sitting)That warrants a response, and the hon. Lady will get one. My final point, to which the hon. Lady alluded in her opening remarks, when she said she hoped the provision might go…30 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Sixteenth sitting)The Opposition Members are all correct: how the Government approach prostitution, and the way society views it, has changed and developed significantly in the last decades. Our…30 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Sixteenth sitting)I thank the hon. Member for Birmingham, Yardley for setting out her case for the new clause. I understand the concern underpinning the new clause that there are inconsistencies…30 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Sixteenth sitting)I am happy to take that correction—sorry, I was just speaking informally when I should not have been. On new clauses 26 and 30, section 1 of the Street Offences Act 1959 enables…30 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Fifteenth sitting)My hon. Friend is correct, but that would be a civil action for negligence, for which remedies would be available. We treat private land separately, but I think the was saying…30 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Sixteenth sitting)But the police do not tell us that they lack the tools or that there is a gap in the law that requires us to amend section 2. Together, the offences defined in sections 1 and 2…30 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Sixteenth sitting)No, I do not, but I can respond to the hon. Lady on that.30 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Fifteenth sitting)Hon. Members will know what I mean: those things that are not cars. There is, therefore, quite a lot of classification. We have a two-part system.30 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Fifteenth sitting)We have carefully considered the case in Cardiff. I want to make it clear that legal aid is available for a prohibited steps order and specific issue order in specific…30 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Fifteenth sitting)I noted what the hon. Lady said in her opening remarks, but I will go through the legal landscape before I come to other issues. As I say, we are carefully considering the force…30 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Sixteenth sitting)Well, I have made the point. I was addressing new clause 31. The householder defence is really a homicide defence; those were the circumstances in which it came up, which is why I…30 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Fifteenth sitting)I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention. That case has caused concern, and we have been looking carefully at the legal aid position, which I will come on to. As I was saying,…30 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Fifteenth sitting)I do not have any indication of the number of cases, but we have heard from the police that there have been problems with getting a prosecution where they cannot prove intent.…30 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Sixteenth sitting)The hon. Member is correct. I will come on to the other parts but I am starting with the most serious category of offences; I think there has been a particular concern in the law…30 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Fifteenth sitting)Because there has to be an application for the reinstatement of parental responsibility. That is what the new clause states at proposed new section 2A(2).30 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Sixteenth sitting)Before I do, may I say that I am not asserting my own view, but I did bother to read the case, because I thought it was a difficult case? And I think that it is probably difficult…30 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Sixteenth sitting)I am simply going through how the higher court approached it. The point is that the Court found that the jury had not been persuaded that this was a duress case; duress was…30 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Sixteenth sitting)Well, this is the decision of the Court of Appeal.30 Jan 2024HANSARDCriminal Justice Bill (Fifteenth sitting)I accept that the new clause gives the other parent the right to return to the family court, but effectively it could force a child to make applications to the family court to…30 Jan 2024