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Civil Aviation Bill

I am extremely grateful to the Minister for his considered reply and am truly grateful for the wide support expressed for the amendment—support that I have to say has been somewhat unexpected from the noble Baroness, Lady Whitaker, the noble Lords, Lord Clinton-Davis, Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, Lord Roper and Lord Garden. I did not expect such support and I am glad of it. I should like to reiterate only one point. I have listened carefully to all that has been said and I shall consider it. I welcome the opportunity for further discussions with the Minister, and I would welcome advice on what should be done and where to go with this. The point I want to make again is that justice was served in the judgment reached this morning by the Law Lords: that the Government have an obligation to investigate whether evidence brought before the British courts has been extracted under torture. Equally, there is an obligation on the Government to investigate further whether extraordinary renditions are, as it were, passing through UK airports. That seemed to fit in rather well with the Civil Aviation Bill. Above all, of course, given that there is a form of ranking of the conventions, the convention on the prohibition of torture is the supreme agreement which really does override all others. It is totally non-derogable and must override everything else. Again, I thank the Minister and I shall return to the matter at a later stage. For the moment, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. [Amendment No. 44A not moved.]