It is a pleasure to speak under your chairmanship, Dame Eleanor. As a relatively new Member of Parliament, it really is a joy to be speaking on this Bill. I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I was a practising barrister for 30 years and for many of those years, I practised in these areas.
I am truly delighted to be speaking on this Bill in Committee. The very consideration of it is evidence that the transition period of our leaving the EU is coming to an end. For me, that is very welcome news. I support the propositions put forward by my hon. Friend the Member for Henley (John Howell), who said that the Government need to be responsive, and there is a need for speed, agility and considered thought.
It is of course right that, prior to the end of the transition period, the UK takes steps to ensure continued participation in key agreements in its own right, at last as a free and independent trading nation. From 1 February, the UK has regained full competence to enter into this
sort of international agreement in the field in its own right. This is wonderful progress. As the UK develops its wider trading policy with the EU and the rest of the world, PIL agreements will be key to supporting cross-border commerce, which will be particularly important going forward. They will also regulate the very foundations of our society—how we deal with international family law matters—and build confidence for consumers as to how trade and disputes will be settled, all of which are very good things.
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Cross-border commerce and trade are a vital part of life and UK businesses, individuals and families need to be able swiftly to settle cross-border disputes. International agreements on PIL are designed to help us: they provide that legal framework to resolve these difficult situations. These agreements will help us, as I know from my practice, to return children who have been abducted by one of their parents. They will also help a small business that has been left out of pocket by a supplier in another country to seek redress. Without these agreements, and without them being promptly brought into our law, families and businesses will be engaged in cross-border disputes that they will struggle to resolve. There are competing jurisdictions and competing processes, and it is very important that these matters are settled swiftly.
I have direct experience in my 30 years at the English Bar of just these types of disputes—far too many cases for me to go into in this short speech. The 1996 Hague convention is a well-known multilateral treaty aimed at improving the protection of children. It provides an important framework for the resolution of issues, such as residence and contact between separated parents who live in different countries. It is essential that we move swiftly on this, and this Bill allows us to do so and to move forward. Similarly, not to repeat too much of what my learned friends have said, the 2005 Hague convention is another multilateral treaty aimed, this time, at ensuring the effectiveness in relation to court agreements.
We really need to get this matter right. This is hugely important. It will contribute to London continuing to be a major legal and commercial centre in the world. It is important that we take considered, but swift, decisions. I hope that, in my term as a Member of Parliament, this place moves forward to be more responsible and more responsive to what its citizens need, rather than looking back at some of the lesser parts of our history. It is time to move on.
The 2007 Hague convention focused on the international recovery of child support and other forms of family maintenance. These are very important treaties and they need to be dealt with promptly. Again, I have been involved in many such cases at the Bar. It is essentially a good thing. By supporting this Bill, the House will help to ensure that civil, commercial and family law judgments will continue to be recognised and enforced across borders by our international partners. These agreements are likely to reduce costs for UK businesses, individuals and families involved in cross-border disputes while decreasing legal certainty for all—those travelling, those trading, those living, and those marrying and having families abroad. We do, of course, need to be agile and fast. We need to be considered. The points made by my hon. Friend the Member for Henley were spot on. Although I have great respect for my hon. Friends the
Members for Bromley and Chislehurst (Sir Robert Neill) and for Huntingdon (Mr Djanogly), I do not support the amendments that they have brought forward. There is another time for detailed consideration of CRaG. There is another time for detailed consideration of reform. We need to act now.
When preparing for this speech, I was interested to read what was said in the House of Lords in relation to clause 2. It was very interesting to listen to what the noble Lords said on 13 May 2020, I was fascinated by what Lord Falconer said. I will not repeat it all, but what I will say is that I have waited 30 years to be able to say this in this House: what a prime example of political and legal grandstanding. The main argument was that to use delegated legislation was effectively a power grab—a matter of constitutional impropriety. What utter nonsense. We must not forget that it was the Labour Government who agreed to the use of delegated powers in all sorts of manners. We cannot spend 24 hours a day, every day, going through each and every little thing because the Opposition parties want to bring forward primary legislation. I am a free marketeer, a partial libertarian, I think that we need less law. We need very well-honed, primed, proper law to deal with the situation in point.
There is nothing wrong with delegated legislation, for which we have a well-established scrutiny system. It is highly hypocritical for those opposing the Bill to object to the use of the DL in the other House when prior to our leaving the EU we had little or no say on the implementation of treaties—they were solely a matter of EU competence and as a nation we had little say. At least our own Ministers will be able to decide on these issues when exercising properly delegated legislation. I know which institution I have more trust in. It is the Ministers of this Government who are held to account in this Chamber, rather than those in the EU.
In conclusion, it is constitutionally appropriate and proportionate to use delegated powers to implement international agreements on PIL law in domestic law. Without such a power, things would be difficult. We simply are not able, and it is not appropriate, to bring in primary legislation each and every time. This is a measured, proportionate approach, and I have absolutely no hesitation in supporting the Bill and opposing the amendments.