UK-US Extradition Treaty

I have to say to the Solicitor-General that I cannot think of any reason not to abrogate the treaty with the United States at the moment. There is absolutely no national advantage to our having signed it whatsoever. I said to the Solicitor-General that I would consider the other aspects—[Interruption.] He shakes his head, but the reality is that, at the moment, if we wish to extradite individuals from the United States, we are entirely bound by the 1972 treaty, which is still in operation and which I have no desire to abrogate. That is our advantage at the moment—nothing more. If we choose to abrogate the later treaty, which has not been ratified and has therefore never been brought into operation—I am not sure that it requires abrogation; it simply has not happened—I do not see that we would lose anything whatsoever in our current relations with the United States.