Clause 93 - Commencement
Crime (International Co-operation) Bill [Lords]
3:30 pm
Mr Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath, Conservative)
We do not have a problem with amendment No. 88. The hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland, who understands the devolution settlement and what happens north of the border far better than I do, can speak if he wishes to dispute what the Minister said, but I shall not do so. However, my study of the proposal and that of my hon. Friend the Member for South-East Cambridgeshire (Mr. Paice) has not revealed any problem, so we shall not oppose it.
Amendment No. 86 is a brief provision, which relates to discussions—and battles—that I had with the Minister's predecessor, the hon. Member for Coventry, North-East (Mr. Ainsworth), who has no doubt returned happily and with relief to the Whips Office as Deputy Chief Whip. He and I had many battles on the Extradition Bill; I wanted a counterpart provision saying that neither this Bill nor the Extradition Bill should come into force until they were brought into harmony with one another. The Minister referred earlier to the fact that this Bill's provisions were different from those relating to the European arrest warrant, which her officials are well aware that Conservative Members violently oppose. That is why we said that the proposals should be interlinked, but I will not labour the point. I am sure that the Minister will resist our amendment, but I hope that she at least understands, and has had some briefing on, the reason why we advanced it. We spent more time discussing the matter during the proceedings of the Extradition Bill. At that time, I anticipated that the same Minister would deal with both Bills throughout, but the reshuffle has
supervened and this Minister now has the dubious pleasure of having to respond to our concerns.