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Civil Aviation Bill

My Lords, I rise to support the amendment, which is also in my name. Having made the case in Grand Committee and on Report, I can speak briefly. Indeed, the arguments of the proposers have not varied at any stage; the reasons the Minister has given for resisting the amendment have changed radically. We were first told, in Grand Committee, that the amendment would abrogate our international obligations and hence wreck the Bill. On Report, the Minister accepted that this was incorrect and said that:"““The amendment would not wreck the Bill, but would not add anything to the powers we have””.—[Official Report, 8/3/06; col. 848.]" We have subsequently sought, as other noble Lords have said, to find some examples where the current legislation has led to the investigation of suspicious flights—those which might be expected to be involved in the transport of people who would subsequently be interrogated under torture. No examples of our using this legislation have come to light, although we have a widespread and growing weight of evidence that the practice has been carried out for a number of years. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Archer of Sandwell, gave some of those examples. We have also sought to find out the status of civil aircraft chartered by governments for the purposes of rendition. This also remains unclear. Last time we discussed this, I asked how RAF Northolt could be used as a staging post for these aircraft without prior notification of the purpose and status of these flights. Again, we have heard no answers to these questions. From all sides of the House, including the government Front Bench, we have heard statements of total abhorrence of the practice of extraordinary rendition. We have the opportunity, through this amendment, to clarify and systemise the legal obligations, because they are obviously not clear to the authorities. I hope that the Government will, at this eleventh hour, support this amendment, and that all noble Lords will see that we need to do this if we are to stop the practice of extraordinary rendition through Britain.