Member

Whether the county court or the magistrates’ court is the right place could be explored further but note that these amendments, if moved on Report, would trigger hundreds of consequential amendments to ensure proper judicial authorisation. I agreed with the Public Bill Office not to table all these consequential amendments at this stage, not to clog up the Marshalled List. What that inadvertently revealed was just how many instances in the Bill Ministers are afforded to avoid judicial authorisation. Let me ask each Member here today: would we be happy for the Government to access our bank accounts without notice, without judicial authorisation and without suspicion of wrongdoing, merely because we received a payment from the state? If not, why should we expect it of others?