The hon. Lady is absolutely right that this is a treaty to which we have signed up. Under a treaty we have certain obligations, but those obligations do not include obeying such interim orders. There is no legal basis for us to obey them; that is a recent convention, and it is not in statute that we should obey such an order. Moreover, even if it were a substantive judgment, it does not give direct effect to what the British Government do. We need to change these things. That is why this Bill is necessary: it will mandate, not merely permit, the Government to remove illegal migrants, so that there can be no doubt in the mind of Ministers, officials or contractors what the law requires them to do.
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What about the courts? I know the Government hope and expect that the new mandate to remove will be enough—that plain primary legislation passed in this place will persuade judges, whether in Strasbourg or in the UK, not to stand in the way of Parliament. I hope that they are right, but I do not think that we can rely on hope. I do not think that we can rely on assurances that the Government may have received from Strasbourg that judges there will respect this law in a way that they did not respect the last.
We need to go further. We must not just permit removals, as per the Nationality and Borders Act, and not just mandate removals, as per the Bill, but actively block the frustration of the removals policy. The primary means by which the policy will be frustrated is the European Court of Human Rights. My amendment would ensure that the policy of removal could go ahead
“notwithstanding any…decision…of the European Court”.
No more pyjama injunctions in the middle of the night—the so-called rule 39 orders.