Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Goodhart (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Tuesday, 4 July 2006.

Extradition: UK and USA

Question: My Lords, where does the Minister get the extraordinary idea that the test of ““probable cause”” that the Americans apply is much less demanding than the test of showing that there is a case to answer, which we applied until 2003, when the Government made the new order? Is it not clear that, in the present extradition arrangements, there is a substantial unbalance that needs to be remedied? Will the Government now get around to revoking their 2003 order and the 2003 treaty itself?

Answer: My Lords, no. The noble Lord and I enjoyed ourselves enormously during the 2003 debates on that Bill, as did a number of noble Lords. We went through the matter again and again. Nothing appears to have changed since we enjoyed those lengthy debates.

Secondary information