Sir Nicholas Dakin

Sir Nicholas Dakin

Labour — Scunthorpe

Speaking in the House of Commons on 30 April 2025

Debate

Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-sentence Reports) Bill

Contribution

No, that is not the Government’s view. “Personal characteristics” is a term that is understood and applied in other contexts, whereas “demographic cohort” is a term that, on balance, the Government feel is more imprecise and would ultimately need to be defined with reference to a group with shared personal characteristics. Therefore, I understand where the right hon. and learned Gentleman is coming from, but from the Government’s point of view, the amendments do not add anything to the drafting of the Bill and risk causing further confusion. As he pointed out in his helpful contribution, there is a danger of getting into detailed semantics, which probably does not help any of us.

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