Clause 57
Counter-Terrorism Bill
12:30 pm
Douglas Hogg (Sleaford and North Hykeham, Conservative)
This is rather an important clause and rather an important set of amendments. We are dealing here with the powers given in the Bill for the making of rules relating to the asset-freezing procedures. Those procedures, which are set out in clause 56, are fairly far reaching.
My reading of clause 57 makes me extremely depressed. All the provisions are designed to benefit the Treasury, and none is designed to benefit the person whose assets may well be frozen. In the various amendments that I have tabled, I have tried to ensure that the maker of the rules is obliged to consider a number of criteria that are designed to benefit the individual, not the state.
For example, the lead amendment, No. 213, requires the maker of the rules to have regard to the need
“to ensure that that manner in which the proceedings are conducted is fair to every party to the proceedings.”
One would have thought that one would not have to say that, but the way in which the law is being construed and implemented means that one does.
Nothing in the Bill requires the maker of the rules to have any regard to the person whose property is about to be taken. The Minister might say that that is all inherent in the convention on human rights, and some parts may be, but I want us as parliamentarians to enact legislation in such a way that people cannot criticise us for not addressing such matters. It is quite plain that we should require the maker of the rules to have regard to fairness.
I am also concerned by subsection (4), with which amendment No. 214 deals. As the Committee will appreciate, subsection (4) enables the maker of the rules to make provision for proceedings to be heard in the absence of the person concerned or their legal representative. It also enables the rules to provide for the proceedings to take place without full particulars of the relevant reasons being given to the parties, and it enables the court to proceed on the basis of a summary of evidence rather than full evidence. That is extraordinarily one-sided, and I have tabled the amendments to try to ensure that the maker of the rules is obliged to consider issues of fairness.