Clause 1 - Extradition to category 1 territories
Extradition Bill
9:25 am
Mr Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath, Conservative)
Thank you, Miss Begg. I understand that, on reflection with your co-Chairman, Mr. O'Hara, you agreed to allow a brief clause stand part debate. I am grateful for that decision and welcome you to the Chair.
I shall not repeat what I said at length in moving the Opposition's initial group of amendments. It was particularly helpful that Mr. O'Hara said that clause 1 showed how front-loaded the Bill was, and the Minister was kind enough to confirm that. We all take the view that much of the meat is at the beginning of the Bill. However, this clause is short. Its significance lies more in the issues that have been left out. I am referring to the fact that British citizens will no longer have the protection of such historic rights as habeas corpus, that the European arrest warrant may be used to take away historic civil liberties of citizens of this country, and to all the other issues that I raised under the initial amendments.
My hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Mr. Maples) made very important points on Second Reading, to which I referred briefly on Tuesday, and he will wish to address the Committee in this debate. I confirm that the Opposition believe that it would have been much better had the Government been honest enough to list at the beginning of the Bill all 32 categories in the framework decision. That is perhaps the biggest gap in clause 1. If the Government were being honest, they would have made it clear that the provision was really an attempt to introduce the European concept of corpus juris into United Kingdom law by the back door.
A range of organisations, from those traditionally regarded as on the left of politics, such as Liberty and Justice, right through to those on the right of politics, such as the Freedom Association and the Democracy
Movement, have also argued that, if the Government were being honest, they should have set out at the beginning of the Bill the 32 vague categories in the framework decision. The fact that they are not listed there is one of the chief things wrong with the clause. That is the mischief in it.
The Opposition have said repeatedly that if part 1 of the Bill were restricted to dealing with terrorism, these very draconian measures would have been acceptable, given the exceptional risk and threat of terrorist offences. However, it is not acceptable for this part to cover such vague crimes as xenophobia and computer-related crime. As I said, the Government should have made it clear at the outset that they were to take away the historic right of British citizens to habeas corpus and should have set out the 32 categories. I shall not detain the Committee further. I simply wanted to set out where the Opposition think the mischief lies.