Terrorist Asset-Freezing (Temporary Provisions) Bill

The Minister made a legal point at the start of her speech, but I do not think she could fully have considered the judgment by Lord Phillips in the Supreme Court, who clearly considered the position under al-Jedda and the human rights position before discussing the individual merits of the cases against either order. What the Minister put to the Committee was not the legal position, but simply her hope about what the legal position might be, were the matter to return to court—which, I am afraid, is where it will probably end up. The arguments against the amendments seemed simply to be that the time is not ripe to discuss the detail of these provisions, but we are being asked to put them into force for almost another year. I remind the Committee that the Supreme Court was very clear about the degree to which these orders undermine fundamental rights. The hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) talked about consistency, and we consistently voted against the timetabling order earlier today because we thought it would be better to discuss these matters in more detail with more time. However, we have to deal with the time we have, and the very least we can do in that time is to put right the main injustices and faults of the legislation before us. That is what the amendments attempt to do. In particular, the new clause, and amendment 5 which would pave the way for it, would put right the most obvious faults in the legislation—faults that the hon. Gentleman's own Back-Bench colleagues referred to again and again in their speeches on Second Reading. They included the lack of appeal and of judicial process. We do not have to wait for months to put that right: we can do so here and now. Amendment 4 deserves further discussion, and the Government's response shows that they need to think about it a lot more, but amendment 5 is something that we should vote on here and now. I beg to ask leave to withdraw amendment 4. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Amendment proposed: 5, page 1, line 11, at end insert—