I am going to resist the temptation to give way to my hon. Friend for now, Mr Deputy Speaker, just to show that I always take notice of the Chair.
They are attempting to fillet this Bill without anybody noticing, claiming to be champions of the Istanbul convention while getting the Government off the hook of ever having to actually implement it. These amendments are all about making sure either that the Istanbul convention is never ratified or that its ratification is delayed as much as possible. Only SNP Members will know why on earth they have agreed to this. Only they will be able to explain that, or perhaps they are so embarrassed about it that they will not be willing to explain it at all. I hope they will have the guts to admit to what they have done.
Government new clause 1 would remove clause 1 and therefore would remove the ratification of the convention on violence against women, because clause 1 imposes a “duty” on the Government
“to take all reasonable steps as soon as reasonably practicable to enable the United Kingdom to become compliant with”
the Istanbul convention. The Government want to delete that. They want to leave out clause 1, yet clause 1 is the whole point of the Bill, in that it imposes a duty on the Government
“to take all reasonable steps as soon as reasonably practicable to enable the United Kingdom to become compliant”
with the convention. The Government want to remove that provision from the Bill, and the SNP is quite happy for them to do so. This is absolutely extraordinary stuff, Mr Deputy Speaker! You literally could not make it up.
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The hon. Member for Coventry South (Mr Cunningham), who intervened on me earlier, referred to the words of the Prime Minister at Prime Minister’s questions on Wednesday. What she said was very sensible, as usual. In answer to the leader of the SNP, she said:
“In many ways, the measures we have in place actually go further than the convention”.—[Official Report, 22 February 2017; Vol. 621, c. 1013.]
What on earth is the point of the UK ratifying the convention, when the Prime Minister herself says that we already have measures that go further than those in the convention? As my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch says, this is gesture politics. The Prime Minister also made it clear that the amendments tabled by the Government were “mutually agreed” with the SNP.
Amendments 56 and 57, both tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch—[Interruption.] I think that SNP Members are rather embarrassed about the fact that they have been cosying up to the Government on these amendments, and they are trying to mask anyone knowing anything about that. This is quite extraordinary, and it is a good job that some of us are on the ball. Amendments 56 and 57 relate to reservations, and I am sure that my hon. Friend will talk about them later.
Government amendment 2 is again one that I would support. It would amend clause 2 by replacing the words “date by” with “timescale within”. There is quite a big difference between the date by which something must be done and a timescale within which it is expected to be done. Again, this is watering down the provisions in the Bill and the SNP has agreed that the Government should do this. Government amendment 3 is very similar to my amendment 24. It proposes producing a report
“as soon as reasonably practicable after this Act comes into force”,
so we can leave that one there as I have already covered that in my amendment. I will obviously support that Government amendment.
Government amendment 4 covers a matter that my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch raised in a point of order at the start of our proceedings today. To be perfectly honest, I do not really understand this. There must be a reason for this proposal, and I hope that the Minister will explain what it is. The amendment proposes that it should be the Secretary of State, rather than Her Majesty’s Government, who determines that the United Kingdom is compliant the Istanbul convention. Surely the Secretary of State is the person within Her Majesty’s Government who is responsible for this policy area, so I do not really see why this needs to be changed round. I hope that the Minister will be able to explain why that should be the Secretary of State’s responsibility rather than that of the Government. There must be a point to that proposal, but it has passed me by.
Government amendment 5 seems to be consequential to Government amendment 4, so I think we can leave that there. I believe that Government amendment 6 is consequential to Government amendments 4 and 5, so we can leave them there too. Government amendment 7 represents another significant watering down of the Bill and of the convention. Clause 2, at present, provides that the Government must make a statement to each House of Parliament on
“the date by which the Convention will be ratified.”
Presumably the whole purpose of the Bill is to ratify the convention, and at the moment the Government are required to announce the date by which it will be ratified. However, the Government and the SNP want
to water down that provision so that the Government would no longer have to tell Parliament the date by which the convention will be ratified. Instead, they would simply have to say when
“the Secretary of State would expect the Convention to be”
ratified. Well, that could be any date at all. This is a significant watering down of the Bill that has not been well publicised until now—[Interruption.] I know it is very boring of me to point out that SNP Members are watering down their own Bill and cosying up to a Conservative Government in doing so. I know that they are embarrassed about doing that, but I am taking great pleasure in telling the people of Scotland what SNP Members do when they are down here.
Government amendment 8 deletes the requirement to produce a report “each year” and replaces it with a requirement to produce such a report only “until ratification”. Government amendment 9 firms up the watering down of the Bill. It refers to alterations in the timescale and the reasons for such alterations. It is a consequential amendment to those that water down the Bill, which the SNP has agreed to. Government amendment 10 is consequential to amendment 8, as is amendment 11. Government amendments 12 and 13 are again consequential to Government amendment 8 and have no real consequence.
Government amendment 14 is very significant, as per amendment 8. At the moment, the Bill requires the Government to produce an annual report setting out
“the measures taken by Her Majesty’s Government to ensure that the United Kingdom is, and remains, compliant with the Istanbul Convention”.
Specifically, the report is to include measures to
“(i) protect women against violence, and prevent, prosecute and eliminate violence against women and domestic violence;
(ii) contribute to the elimination of discrimination against women, promote equality between women and men, and empower women;
(iii) protect and assist victims of violence against women and domestic violence;
(iv) promote international co-operation against these forms of violence; and
(v) provide support and assistance to organisations and law enforcement agencies to co-operate in order to adopt an integrated approach to eliminating violence against women and domestic violence.”
Those are the aims of the convention, yet the Government are saying that they will not be required to report on any of those things. In effect, they are saying, “Once we have ratified the Istanbul convention, that will be job done. We don’t need to worry about these things any more. We don’t need to monitor what is happening and we don’t need to report on what is happening in this country because the job has been done.” Well, I am afraid that it has not been done, as we have seen from the results in other countries. We need to keep on top of these things to ensure that the Government are doing what they said they would do to ensure that violent crime is going down in the UK. It is quite extraordinary that the Government and the SNP do not want any reporting of anything at all after ratification of the Istanbul convention, and I hope that the will of the House will be tested on that matter.
Amendment 60, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch, is one that I very much support. He wants to retain clause 3(e), as I do, rather than delete it.
He also wants to strengthen it by requiring the Government to make it clear what the costs to the Exchequer will be of the measures set out in that subsection. It is quite right that the UK taxpayer should know much is being spent on the measures in the Bill. That is a matter of transparency.
Government amendment 15 is yet another watering down of the Bill: instead of coming into effect on the day of Royal Assent, another two months will now have to pass before it comes into effect. I am happy to support the amendment, but people campaigning for the Bill should be rather worried about the motives for the amendment.
In many respects I have saved the best till last.