Clause 202 - Existing legislation on extradition
Extradition Bill
3:00 pm
Mr Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath, Conservative)
I am glad that the hon. Gentleman has expressed his views in such strong terms, as it has saved me the trouble of doing so. I will not bore the Committee by repeating what he said, but I agree with every word. It is rare for me to agree with every word uttered by a Liberal Democrat, but it is more likely to happen with the two Liberal Democrats on this Committee. The Minister has sought to drive a wedge between them based on their lack of communication. He also described the hon. Member for Torridge and West Devon as being the Eurosceptic wing of the Liberal Democrat party, but he is also on its constitutional wing, as is his hon. Friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland. They believe in the historic traditions of Parliament, and long may they continue to do so; even so, I wish that their views were more widely shared by their parliamentary colleagues, who so often vote with Labour to undermine our constitutional traditions.
The Conservatives, too, object to Henry VIII clauses. Since he became shadow Home Secretary, and probably for many years before that, my right hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset (Mr. Letwin)
has voted against every Henry VIII provision that the Government have sought to slip in. My hon. Friends and I will certainly support the Liberal Democrats in voting against the clause for all the reasons that the Select Committee set out. I have no doubt that there will be a huge amount of opposition, including from Labour peers, when the provision comes before another place. Often the only way we have managed to preserve our constitutional traditions recently has been when Labour peers have voted with Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers. Long may that continue, as well.