Counter-Terrorism Bill

My Lords, that is a very sound question. I am proposing the amendment in relation to a single commissioner who would cover all three jurisdictions, but it may well be the position if the amendment were accepted that we would require separate commissioners for each of the jurisdictions. What are the objections to the amendment? Two objections have been put forward by the noble Lord in his recent letter. The first objection was that there is already an independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, in the shape of the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, who is not here today. The new commissioner’s job would be quite different. He would not be advising the Government on terrorism legislation; he would be making sure on the ground that the police were getting on with their investigation. Unlike the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, he would not be reporting to the Government after the event. He would be reporting before the event to the judge who was granting the extension on whether to extend the period of detention. There is another reason why a new appointment would not duplicate the work of the noble Lord, Lord Carlile. Terrorist prisoners are often transferred from Paddington Green to prison after 14 days. The noble Lord, Lord West, says that that is all right because they would then be subject to the oversight of Her Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons. With respect, that misses the whole point, which is to have someone who will follow the case right through from the moment the suspect is arrested to the moment when he is charged. To split the job between the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, and Her Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons would not be a sensible way ahead, if indeed it would even be feasible. The second point made by the noble Lord in his recent letter is equally wide of the mark. He said that the suspect’s own lawyer would be present at the application to extend the time, and he could cross-examine the investigating officer to challenge the application ““rigorously””. I think that is the word that he uses. The short answer to that is that the suspect’s own lawyer, however rigorous he might be, would not have access to the closed material without which effective cross-examination would not be possible. I invite the House to accept the amendment, which would fill a small but important gap in the present scheme of things. It would also do more than anything to reassure ethnic minorities that when suspects are detained the police are complying with their obligations under the law. That must be a desirable objective. I beg to move.