Member

My noble friend Lord Cameron of Lochiel also kindly supported this amendment, citing case law that showed how elastic this concept has become. We all know the sort of absurdity and chilling effect that follows when the focus shifts from what was said and intended to how a complainant says they felt. The Minister argued, fairly, that removing “alarm” might reduce the ability to intervene early—for example, with a drunken individual causing upset on late night train. However, when conduct is genuinely menacing, it will ordinarily amount to harassment, or perhaps distress, although I will come back to that shortly. Where appropriate, other offences exist for threats, intimidation and violence. The common-law offence of breach of the peace exists to help police control these kinds of situations by giving them a power to arrest and release.