I will accept that distinction but our joining the ECJ will in fact give them more powers—and the police always want more powers, as I have said.
I must remind noble Lords that far from being an efficient tool of justice, the European arrest warrant has been, in many cases, the cause of serious injustice. There was the case which the noble Lord mentioned, which I will not go into, of Andrew Symeou. He also mentioned Fair Trials International, which has brought to my attention one of the cases that it mentions. It is of an Italian, Mr Edmond Arapi, who was subject to extradition from Britain to serve 16 years in a prison for a murder in a city in which he never committed the crime and had never visited. The murder was committed on a day when he was actually at work in the UK. What Mr Arapi said was—this was reported by Fair Trials International, so I presume it is correct:
“I had overwhelming evidence that I could not have committed the crime yet they didn’t care. All they cared about was following the procedures of the arrest warrant, and I spent six weeks in jail as a result”.
I really do not think that that is the EU arrest warrant working as perfectly as the noble Lord on the Labour Benches said. It is yet another reason why we should not go back into this extraordinary arrangement and not give our powers away like this.
10.15 pm
There are many other examples, but since the hour is late, I shall not go into them. As things stand at the moment, if we do not opt in, as I understand it, our courts will still have the right and the powers of extradition on 1 December. However, a minute after midnight, if we opt in, they will be gone—all those powers will be given, for ever, to the ECJ. That is the position as I understand it. This is really an abject surrender of power, but, of course, it is coming from a Prime Minister who is busy trying to pretend to the country that he wants to repatriate powers from the EU. As the noble Lord, Lord Lamont, said, this is not repatriation of powers, it is giving them away.
The electorate will form its own judgment, starting on Thursday.