Terrorist Asset-Freezing (Temporary Provisions) Bill

I rise to support the amendments, as I believe that they would be a very helpful step forward. The hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) said that it is a bit rich of the Liberal Democrats to vote in the way that they did. I voted that way, as well, but I am equally concerned about the purport of this Bill. As we have heard, there are two main issues regarding what the Bill does: a lack of scrutiny and a lack of legal redress, both of which would be dealt with in the second amendment to which the hon. Member for Cambridge (David Howarth) referred. Like others in this Chamber, I am sure, when I hear the words ““reasonable suspicion”” I always think, ““How is that tested?”” Usually, the normal legal procedure then comes in, and a tribunal of some kind decides whether the suspicion was held on a reasonable basis. In this instance, there is no such tribunal to make that decision. I am not here to cast any aspersions on the Exchequer Secretary, the Chief Secretary or anybody else, but we would hope to put in place a form of legislation that will stand the test of time and be a fair resolution of a problem that, I acknowledge, does exist. I do not live in a cocoon: there is a problem, and I recognise that that is so. As we are going to rush everything through today, this is obviously an appropriate time to discuss these amendments, because when can we discuss them, if not now? Surely it is important that we consider them now. Of course the Government might care to respond in some way to the purport of the amendments in due course. As we heard earlier, Lord Hope, the deputy president of the Supreme Court, said:"““It is no exaggeration to say…that designated persons are effectively prisoners of the state…their freedom of movement is severely restricted without access to funds or other economic resources, and the effect on both them and their families can be devastating.””" He went on to say that the orders"““strike at the very heart of the individual's basic right to live his own life as he chooses.””" His colleague in the Supreme Court, Lord Brown, said:"““The draconian nature of the regime imposed under these asset-freezing Orders can hardly be over-stated.””" The hon. Member for Cambridge (David Howarth) said that his amendment would make the Bill human rights compliant by deleting the reference to the UN. I think that that is basically where we are. He is a law professor, and although such matters are detailed, he explained them clearly. It is not a simple area of law, but I agree that that would be a sensible way forward. It would at least invoke the protection of compliance with human rights as we understand them. New clause 1 would impose a duty of scrutiny. It would also give the courts an opportunity to review a finding later—there is nothing wrong with that, one hopes—and give the person subject to the order some form of legal redress. As hon. Members from all parties said, merely falling back on the old excuse that a person can seek redress by way of judicial review is not good enough. The people we are discussing are asset-stripped. How are they to finance an application for a judicial review? In any event, the judicial reviews that we have discussed are subject to the Wednesbury principle. In other words, the major question is whether the Minister concerned acted reasonably in the circumstances. If only part of the information against the individuals designated is known to them, how on earth can they possibly challenge on those grounds? The hon. Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore) made that point clearly. The amendments are certainly an improvement on the Bill. The hon. Members for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) and for Cambridge must have spent a boring weekend considering so many minute drafting points. Maybe the hon. Member for Twickenham was not in Twickenham, as I was, but that is another story. I had a legal low, not a legal high, but I digress. The amendments are seriously worthy of consideration and improve the Bill. I am unhappy about the Bill, but I understand that the Government are in a bit of a quandary and need to do something. However, if we are to have these time constraints, surely we should be able to discuss the measures in detail so that some form of protection could be built into the Bill. The hon. Member for Cambridge has done a good job of drafting his amendments in such a short time. I hope that the Government can respond to them positively.