My Lords, I am grateful to noble Lords who have responded to this proposed amendment. We are very conscious that it is less than ideal to bring in an amendment of this kind at this stage of the Bill’s passage. If we had been able to do so at an earlier stage, it would have been much better.
Having said that, we felt that it was, on balance, right to introduce this change rather than not introduce it. I recognise the reservation expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Anderson, on that score. He also expressed the reservation that we heard on the previous group of amendments about applying extraterritorial jurisdiction to those who are not UK citizens or UK residents. I have already said that as a general rule I respect that point of principle. However, I put it to the noble Lord and the noble Baroness that what we are seeking to do here is not any different in concept from what we sought to do at the beginning of the Bill.
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It is a well-established principle in international agreements on terrorism—for example, the EU directive on combating terrorism, which was adopted in 2017—that countries should be able to, and are expected to, prosecute their nationals who travel overseas to engage in terrorism. Foreign terrorist fighters should not be able to evade justice on return, particularly where their crimes may have been committed in areas of conflict and instability where there may not be clearly defined or well-developed terrorism laws equivalent to those in the UK.
In the other place, the Official Opposition spokesman expressed his full support for this clause and the motivation behind it. I hear the call from the noble Lord, Lord Anderson, who of course I greatly respect, for the Government to take this matter away. On balance, however, I do not feel that that is the right thing to do. For the reasons that I have expressed, I invite the Committee to approve it.