Taking Account of Convictions (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2020

Lord Thomas of Gresford Excerpts

Thursday 29th October 2020 Grand Committee

[Lord Thomas of Gresford (LD) [V]]

My Lords, I was disappointed to discover that there is no accompanying draft memorandum to explain this statutory instrument displayed on the House of Lords Papers app. For those of us who are locked down in Wales, that app is a lifeline. Did the Ministry of Justice think that this SI is so insignificant as not to require an Explanatory Memorandum and that the few lines below the text of the instrument are sufficient?

The sad thing is that this is not an insignificant statutory instrument. As the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, said, in 2014, the European Commission reported to the European Parliament on the workings of the framework decision of 2008, with which this statutory instrument is concerned. He quoted at length to your Lordships the inspiring introduction which sets out the purpose of the report and of the framework decision itself. It is indeed in the interests of effective criminal justice, including the protection of victims of crime within the European Union, that all member states should have rules in place to take into account at all stages of criminal proceedings whether a person is a first offender or has already been sentenced in another member state.

We have just thrown all this protection away. This miserable little statutory instrument merely preserves the regime of co-operation in respect of proceedings which were pending but not completed at the end of the transition period. It says nothing about co-operation in the future. Can the Minister tell us whether there are any negotiations in being to bring about similar co-operative and reciprocal mechanisms which must be in the interests of the UK, whether in the EU or not?

Obviously, such discussions cannot be part of the trade negotiations, which are stuttering along on their last legs at the moment. What happens if new proceedings are commenced against an offender on 1 January next, after the transition period, and result in a conviction? How will judges and magistrates in this country be warned and informed whenever an EU national with a string of convictions appears in a British dock? Will it be possible at all for our police forces or prosecutors to obtain information of past convictions from EU countries?

Similarly, what arrangements are proposed for co-operation with EU countries in providing the records of individuals convicted in this country? Come to think of it, where are we with the European arrest warrant or any mechanism to replace it? Is it not ironic that we can negotiate a trade agreement with Japan, a country on the other side of the world and ring the parish church bells, but are incapable of having in place after 1 January an agreement that will protect, and is designed to protect, the citizens of this country from criminals arriving from our European neighbours?

This statutory instrument is important simply because it stands as a symbol of the wreckage of a great idea: the binding together of European states wracked by war into a community for common security and prosperity. I look forward to the Minister’s reply.