Clause 82 - Foreign surveillance operations
Crime (International Co-operation) Bill [Lords]
9:30 am
Mr Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath, Conservative)
There is a judgment call to be made. The hon. Gentleman raises a serious point and he knows that Opposition Members—particularly my hon. Friends the Members for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford) and for Beaconsfield (Mr. Grieve) and the shadow Home Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset (Mr. Letwin)—have taken a very serious interest in advancing legal protection against paedophiles. We take that matter seriously, but when it comes to foreign police officers having powers to come on to our soil—our territory—to carry out surveillance, we say that that should be restricted to matters that are crimes in UK law. After all, UK law is pretty wide. There are not many very serious matters that would require surveillance that are not crimes under UK law. The British people need the protection that we have proposed.