Policing and Crime Bill

My Lords, I am taking the utmost care. It is the noble and learned Baroness who has come out with two contradictory statements about the effect of this treaty. She went to America on 13 July 2006, which was the same day that the NatWest Three were extradited from this country. Letters were exchanged in September 2006—she must have been a party to it—to make it clear that, despite the retrospectivity of the treaty, the Government would not seek extradition of Irish terrorists for offences committed before the Good Friday agreement was in place. Further, the State Department made it clear that it, not the courts, would determine what was and what was not a political offence—that is set out in Article 4(3) and (4). The purpose of the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Jones, is to level this matter up and to ensure that there is equality of treatment of British subjects or people who are resident in this country as regards extradition procedures with the United States. That is why we support the amendment.