Schedule 12 - Extradition
Police and Justice Bill
12:15 pm
Nick Herbert (Shadow Minister (Police Reform), Home Affairs; Arundel and South Downs, Conservative)
I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to the issue that the hon. Member for Hove (Ms Barlow) has raised—the imbalance in our extradition arrangements with the United States—which a number of my hon. Friends also raised on Second Reading.
On 31 March 2003, the UK signed a new extradition treaty with the United States in order, according to the preamble,
“to provide for more effective cooperation between the two States in the suppression of crime”.
The impact of that new treaty has already been profound. Since it was signed, the United States has sought the extradition of 44 alleged offenders, and 12 have already been sent to the US. The extradition of several others has been approved, but is awaiting appeal. For obvious reasons, I shall not comment on specific cases that may be sub judice. The important point is that, by contrast, Britain extradited only five suspects from the United States in the same period under the previous 30-year-old extradition treaty, including just one suspect in 2005.
The imbalance takes a number of forms. First, the treaty has not been ratified by the United States Senate. The Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, the hon. Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham), giving evidence to the Home Affairs Committee, said:
“There is now a process underway in the States with regard to the consideration of the Treaty, so I would not say in any way it is unilateral and what I would say is that the end result will be modern arrangements between the two countries that will be reciprocal and in both of our interests.”
That was optimistic, because the treaty has been vigorously opposed by Irish-American groups in the United States. Professor Francis Boyle of the university of Illinois went so far as to tell the Irish Echo recently:
“We are going to hold the Democrats’ feet to the fire and warn Republicans that they will be toast if this treaty goes through”.
At the moment, the United States Senate shows no sign of wishing to ratify the treaty.