Member

In this area the noble Lord, Lord Strasburger, asked about safeguards around this power. It is a defence for a person charged under these powers to show that they were not aware that the premises were used by a public officeholder as a dwelling. If sufficient evidence is raised, the prosecution must prove otherwise beyond reasonable doubt. We consider this a necessary safeguard to prevent instances where individuals might unknowingly find themselves in breach of the law, for instance where someone is protesting about an issue unrelated to the public officeholder outside an apartment block where that officeholder lives. The noble Lord talked about reasonable behaviour, but I would say that reasonable behaviour is protesting outside a constituency office or a town hall, not outside somebody’s private home.