My hon. Friend has explained the purpose of the declaration. The concept of a declaration of compatibility is something with which hon. Members are familiar from looking at the declaration made on legislation about the Human Rights Act 1998. A significant difference, however, is that in that declaration clear legal principles are set out in the European convention on human rights, against which the legislation can be measured. Ministers look at that legislation carefully when making such a declaration.

We will not dwell in this debate on a detailed discussion of the European convention on human rights. That would, of course, be out of order and you would take me up on it, Mr Gale, if I strayed. However, there is extensive case law on what the convention means, and when we discuss Clause 4 I will explain why the declaration under discussion is more complicated. Because it is not clearly defined, a Secretary of State would have a real problem in making such a declaration because it is not clear what the Bill is being declared compatible with. That is a real problem, but rather than anticipate the debate, I will go into the issue in more detail when we discuss clause 4. I urge my hon. Friends to oppose clause 3.