Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

My Lords, before my noble friend replies, I should like to draw her attention to the serious consideration given to this point by the Joint Committee on Human Rights. I shall not detain the House by going over all the detail of how the committee reported, but perhaps I may highlight a couple of points on which it would be helpful if my noble friend could say something convincing today. The first is the export of risk. I for one simply do not understand how, given the nature of global terrorism, it is safer to have someone sent home, where we cannot monitor or control them, than it is to have them held in some way within our own system, subject to supervision and scrutiny. It would be very interesting to hear my noble friend’s argument on why it is thought that that might be more appropriate, because we are dealing with the dangers of global terrorism. If it is global terrorism—and I am totally convinced of its reality—then it is arguably very dangerous to send someone who is regarded as a threat out of our jurisdiction. The second point on which it would be very helpful if my noble friend could clarify her conclusions and why she holds them is that if the matter is in effect to be dealt with in two parts, two stages, there is danger to the individual in a country where torture happens simply because the British Government have regarded that individual as a threat. That is what alerts the security system in all its uglier dimensions in a country about which we have anxieties. Therefore, it is important to hear from the Government why we are prepared to subject someone to that risk before we know what the nature of the risk is. The final point is that to argue that there will be a good opportunity for the security dimensions to be properly heard when the person concerned is already out of the country does, from the standpoint of many of us, beggar belief. The person will not be present at the hearing. By the nature of how SIAC conducts its affairs, there is in any case the limitation on contact between lawyers and suspect. If we are in the battle of winning hearts and minds and convincing people in this country that we really are committed not only to the principles of justice but to their full-hearted implementation, and of not seeing them short-circuited and destroyed simply because terrorist threats exist, then it becomes more important than ever to show young, troubled people in our country that we are standing by the law—and convincingly standing by the law—and that the law is as transparent as possible. The whole procedure laid down here is going to play into the hands of the extremists, who will start manipulating the minds of the vulnerable in our midst.