Draft Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (Remedial) Order 2023

Richard Graham Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd January 2024 General Committees

[Tom Tugendhat]

I pay huge tribute in particular to Viscount and later Earl of Kilmuir, David Maxwell Fyfe, who was not only the first Home Secretary to have MI5 reporting to him rather than the Prime Minister, but one of the principal drafters of the European convention on human rights and a key individual in building the post-war order, in which British justice was used as the template for a new European convention.

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

Does this remedial order and its compliance with the ECHR worry or reassure allies with whom we share intelligence?

[Tom Tugendhat]

When we make it clear that the work we do, necessarily in secret, is supervised and checked against a legal basis, it hugely reassures our friends and partners. It assures them as well that we are not just a partner to be trusted, but a partner with which intelligence can be shared very freely, because of the clear legal oversight. This is a strong element in building the security and building up the trust that we need to keep our people safe. I commend the order to the Committee.

Question put and agreed to.