Obviously, I rise to support the general principles of the Bill. The Scottish National party, in giving support to this legislation, takes the view that it is not where we wish to be, but in the circumstances of where we find ourselves, it is the best that can be done. It has to be put in the context, both legal and political, of where we find ourselves. In the legal context, many others have mentioned, correctly, that private international law is not even noted a great deal within the wider sphere of law and is rather a specialist niche. I say that as someone who was a lawyer and practised for 20 years, who was a Justice Secretary for seven and a half years and who was the Convenor of the Subordinate Legislation Committee when the Scottish Parliament was first established. Private international law does occasionally result in people’s eyes glazing over, but it is fundamentally important. Significantly, subordinate legislation is equally of great importance and far too frequently missed. Both require to be addressed, because as the Minister and the hon. Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham) have mentioned, they are fundamental. This is fundamental to business contracts, as we seek to promote business in a globalised world. It is fundamental to ensuring that litigation can take place if accidents occur abroad, and in the world in which we travel more that is understandable. In family matters, it is fundamental because children are taken, and deeply distressing custody battles are waged over abducted children not only across the border between Scotland and England but around the world. It is also important for the enforcement of aspects such as aliment,
as we call it in Scotland, or alimony, as it is referred to down here. All those things depend on the ability to settle on a jurisdiction—a jurisdiction of choice, or sometimes one that is required—in which rights can be enforced.
3 pm
Lugano and Hague have been mentioned by the Minister and the hon. Member for Stockton North. They are not simply a holiday resort or a historic city—they are fundamental international agreements that affect the lives of many in this country, if not all, even if it is only rarely or sparingly. They were mentioned in a previous debate by the Chair of the Justice Committee, the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Sir Robert Neill), who is not here because he is chairing the Committee. It is a matter that I know from private practice, having had partners who are involved in child abduction cases that are deeply complex, never mind the issues in dealing with matters across the border between Scotland and England. They are finite. It is on that basis that, when I started out as a young law student and a young lawyer, private international law was, to some extent, the domain of advocates and barristers, as they are called down here, rather than all those dealing with law as solicitors or lawyers.
However, as the world has become more complex and shrunk in many ways, and as we have globalised, it is something that all lawyers have been required to take cognisance of, because more and more clients have cases that have happened elsewhere or have implications in other jurisdictions, not simply within the four nations of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It needs to be sorted out, and it is on that basis that the Scottish Government have agreed to the memorandum and indeed support it , which is the same position taken by the Law Society of Scotland. We welcome the Lords amendments and the changes that the Government have taken on board. We think that they could have gone further, but we accept the context, and it is their right, with the majority that they have.
That leads us to the political context. This is coming about as a consequence of Brexit. As we come to the end of transition, we face an approaching deadline. Agreements are required, otherwise rights that we have had for years, and sometimes generations, will be lost. There is a maxim—perhaps only my own: legislate in haste and repent at leisure. I worry that, notwithstanding the excellent skills of parliamentary draftsmen, they are drafting this at late notice and trying to bring it all together, to deal with aspects such as Lugano and Hague and matters in which we still do not know whether we will be able to participate because the EU has not yet consented. Those are all fundamental to our rights. They are equally extremely difficult for anybody who is drafting legislation. I know the number of iterations required in legal drafting, so I hope that we will not see numerous rewrites having to take place, not through the fault of those carrying out the instructions but because of the situation they found themselves in—we do not know what we are dealing with, and we are trying to scramble something together with just days to go.