EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement

Lord Thomas of Gresford Excerpts

Friday 8th January 2021 Lords Chamber

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

I will make three points on the surrender of suspects or convicted persons, previously dealt with under the European arrest warrant. First, according to article 136, under part 3, title XII of the agreement, in the event of the United Kingdom or the European Union denouncing the European Convention on Human Rights, the whole of part 3, all the security provisions, will

“cease to be in force”.

What does this mean? If, as a result of the committee of the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, it becomes government policy to withdraw from the ECHR, do all the arrangements in the agreement for co-operation and security matters automatically fall? How do you denounce—that is the word used—the convention? Do you have to go, like Martin Luther, to the cathedral in Württemberg and hammer your denunciation upon the door?

Secondly, since all 27 EU countries are placed into Part 1 of the Extradition Act 2003, a request for surrender by an EU country will, unless the person requested consents, result in a court hearing. The agreement provides time limits for compliance with the request. If the alleged criminal comes within the financial limits, he is automatically entitled to legal aid, whatever the merits of his case. What consideration has been given to the impact on our heavily overburdened courts? The noble Lord, Lord True, described this agreement as “streamlined”. I do not think so.

Finally, there are 22 countries out of the 27 that prevent or restrict extradition of their nationals who are third country, which is what we have become. For example, the German constitution forbids it. Will we be extraditing our nationals to Europe without any reciprocity by those states? I appreciate the Minister’s burden today but would welcome a written response.