Conduct of Undercover Policing and Surveillance Operatives Bill [HL]

Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 17th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd (CB)]

My Lords, I too add my congratulations to the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, on raising this point. It is important for two reasons: first, the terrible damage done to those who have suffered as a result of what happened; and, secondly, and to my mind importantly, the damage this does to the police force. On this issue, the law needs to be clear.

We look to when the CHIS Act, if I might call it that, was before this House and the prohibition of the authorisation of certain activities. Lady Massey of Darwen’s amendment was passed in this House, and it would have prohibited sexual relations being authorised. There were reasons put forward as to why that was wrong. The other place took a different view and there was no prohibition. However, as the noble and learned Lord, Lord Garnier, has explained, the issue of consent in sexual relations is a very unclear part of the law. It needs looking at. There have been many proposals for reform, and it seems to me wholly impossible to try to deal with the problem through an easy amendment to the Criminal Justice Act relating to sexual relations. We are therefore concerned with making it clear that under no circumstances can a person who is an undercover officer engage in sexual relations.

I must say I found the College of Policing’s guidance to be deeply unfortunate. There is no reason why it tries to qualify the very clear statement that people should not engage in sexual activity. The one solution to this problem would be for the College of Policing to be more sensitive to these issues. It is accountable to the Home Secretary, and no doubt there are good reasons why the Home Secretary does not want to go into the details of advice given. However, the College of Policing should itself have a means of examining the guidance it gives, because, in the part read by the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, what it states is plainly unacceptable. There is no excuse for engaging in sexual relations.

I therefore broadly welcome—I think everyone does—the attempt to put the law right and to prohibit undercover officers from engaging in sexual relations, full stop, with no qualification. I wish the police would put the matter right themselves—that is their duty. If they do not, I hope the Home Secretary will do it. I certainly do not think this should await the conclusion of Sir John Mitting’s inquiry, and, in any event, we have no idea when that will end. I note that, from what they stated last week, the Government are consulting on the future of the inquiry.

Action needs to be taken. I do not want to go into the technicalities—there is no time to do so—but the police should be the first step and the Home Secretary the second step, and it must be made clear that this activity should be permitted under no circumstances.