Prevention of Terrorism Act

I appreciate the right hon. Gentleman’s constructive and positive tone. I shall not talk today about the details of the control orders referred to in Lord Carlile’s report; we will have a chance to debate them when the renewal order is in place. I should re-emphasise the Government’s view that, as the right hon. Gentleman said, proper judicial process—going through courts, and for convictions—is the right way to address these matters wherever possible, rather than using measures such as control orders. He is also right to say that under the legislation currently before Parliament, the number of cases in which there is a prospect of securing a conviction through the courts will increase; I hope that it will have the impact that he describes. For the avoidance of doubt, I should confirm our approach throughout this process: we are introducing a regime that will apply only to a very narrow set of cases—we hope that it will become narrower—in which prosecution through the courts in the normal way cannot work. The right hon. Gentleman asked how we will deal with deportation cases in the light of court judgments. I am not going to predict how we will deal with such situations, but we have been able to secure memorandums of understanding with a number of countries, and the Foreign Secretary and I continue actively to discuss with other countries the securing of such memorandums. I hope that the courts will regard those memorandums as serious agreements between sovereign Governments in such circumstances. But of course, the courts will have to judge the nature of the memorandum of understanding with a particular country, and its operation in relation to a particular case. Therefore, I am not going to speculate about how that will be dealt with. On intercept, the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden is right to say that hon. Members in his party and others, and many Labour Members, have wanted to explore whether we can do better than is currently the case. I can confirm what I have told him in private, which is that the Government are looking at that very actively and seriously, with a view to seeing how we can introduce an appropriate regime. A report on that will be produced later in the year. If progress is made in that regard, I can confirm that legislative change along the lines suggested by Lord Carlile would be appropriate. Whether his remarks amount to a gentle comment or a rebuke, the very cordial and consensual relations that I have had with the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden in discussing some of these matters have not always been evident in debates in the House. I blame my own conduct for that, of course, but he may care to look at his own approach in that regard. [Laughter.] However, I do appreciate his determination to play a constructive role in rationalising the legislation. As he says, it could certainly do with pruning and close examination. In that context, we would need to see whether the current legislation on terrorism in Northern Ireland could be brought within the framework. I repeat that I very much appreciate his constructive approach. We are not looking for a blank cheque from the Opposition or any other Member of the House. We will not simply lay a proposal on the Table and say, ““Take it or leave it.”” We want a serious debate and a consensual approach to achieving a stable and permanent legislative regime that will tackle properly the appalling challenges that we face.