Asset Freezing (Compensation) Bill [HL]

Lord Davies of Oldham Excerpts

Friday 10th June 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Davies of Oldham (Lab)]

My Lords, I, too, commend the noble Lord, Lord Empey, on having the luck to bring in a second Bill in consecutive years. I understand, of course; I have not mastered the skills myself. If I had, I would be informing some of my Back-Benchers of feats equal to his. I hope the House will offer me at least some consolation. On each occasion the noble Lord has been successful, I have had to respond from the Dispatch Box. Last time it was on transport, on airports policy. Only yesterday did it become clear that the Treasury was expected to respond to this Bill. That is why I am addressing the House. If the noble Lord is successful next year, I hope he chooses a subject somewhat distant from those for which I take some responsibility.

Nevertheless, I have encouragement for him in the official response of my party. He mentioned that my honourable friend in the Commons, Jim Fitzpatrick MP, who is also a personal friend—I helped him in the last election, so he owes me a favour or two—raised this issue, because he is very conscious of its importance and that it is time that progress is made. Of course, we will have to look to the other place in due course for strength of support, which obliges the Government to be more responsive than they have been.

We also look forward to having my noble friend Lord Brennan interested in this issue, as was demonstrated in his splendid speech. On addressing groups outside the House I often comment on the level of expertise that we experience here, as I am sure other noble Lords do. The lawyers are frequently mentioned, because we all value the contribution that many of them make. My noble friend made a speech soon after my arrival in this House and I was very impressed indeed with the way he marshalled the arguments. I am sure that the whole House has been impressed today. Those of us in favour of the Bill are very fortunate to have my noble friend with his expertise, amply demonstrated in his speech, to assist in the arguments.

My party wants to emphasise that it has enormous sympathy with the Bill and that it wants to see progress made. I am conscious of the past delays, some of which were under past Labour Governments. Not much progress has been made subsequent to 2010, so the present Government have to face up to responsibilities. But we all know what the noble Lords, Lord Empey and Lord Rogan, were reminding us of. They illustrated their arguments with those great devastating outrages that affected the British mainland, as well as Northern Ireland, during the period of maximum IRA activity. There was a time, which many noble Lords will recall, when we all found great difficulty getting to Westminster because the threats of action were enough to disrupt our transport system, particularly the Underground. We all know that the country was appalled at the level of activity then. Now it has become clear that the deadly Semtex that was so generally used was so readily available because of links with Gaddafi.

I bear in mind what was said about the progress the Americans have made. Surely we must follow that example. We owe it to the relatives of those killed and those who were injured in past devastating developments. Mercifully, we all rejoice in the fact that the politics of Northern Ireland and the position there is so much more favourable than it was during those terrible times, but we have a duty to respond to a clear and declared need. The Opposition will give every support that they can to the Bill.