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Civil Aviation Bill

My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have participated in another debate on this issue which exercises us all greatly. The one jarring note to which I should like to respond is the suggestion of the noble Lord, Lord Garden, that the Government’s arguments have changed during the course of proceedings on the Bill. They changed on one occasion. When the amendment was first tabled knowledge of the issue was very limited. My department, the Department of Transport, has limited responsibility for these issues and we gave the best reply we could to an amendment which was tabled the night before and to which I responded that afternoon. I subsequently indicated that the issue was different from the basis on which we were anxious about the matter. That is the only change in the Government’s position. I freely admitted that when I addressed the House on Report. I want to emphasise that the Government are not changing their arguments again this evening but are seeking and maintaining total consistency in our position regarding the matter. Of course we all recognise that the concept of extraordinary rendition is unacceptable. I want to emphasise that although I recognise the various cases used today to illustrate the case that rendition may be occurring—it is for the House to judge that of course—none of them involves the United Kingdom directly. We made our position absolutely clear in ministerial Statements and in answers to Parliamentary Questions. Since this Government came to power, they have authorised the use of UK facilities for two prisoner transfers to the United States where the prisoners were subsequently tried and we declined to facilitate two other transfers. It has been widely reported that specific US-registered aircraft, allegedly linked to the CIA—and of course these issues arose again this evening—have used UK facilities for renditions. There is no compelling evidence to suggest that those aircraft were linked to unlawful activity while in or over flying the United Kingdom. If credible intelligence of serious illegal activity—the definition of ““extraordinary rendition”” that has informed this debate would be serious illegal activity—comes to light regarding an aircraft in flight, the Government can require the aircraft to land. Article 3bis of the Chicago convention allows states to require aircraft to land if there are reasonable grounds to conclude that the aircraft is being used for any purpose that is inconsistent with the aims of the convention. If the aircraft is on the ground, the control authorities—the police, Customs and immigration—already have a variety of powers to enter, take evidence and make arrests. For civil aircraft, the police could board an aircraft in the UK if they had reasonable suspicion that certain crimes were being committed within UK jurisdiction under UK law. My noble and learned friend Lord Archer pressed me on this point, and, with his usual diligence and accuracy, has done the researches necessary. I confirm that the police have power to enter premises to arrest for indictable and certain other offences under Section 17 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. For this purpose, premises are defined as including any aircraft. That is in Section 23 of the Act. Because the police enjoy their usual powers of entry, the powers available would vary depending on the offence that is thought to have been committed. A justice of the peace may issue a search warrant to enter and search premises, including aircraft, where there are reasonable grounds for believing that an indictable offence has been committed. If someone is being transported for the purpose of being tortured, those who are exporting that person for that purpose are likely to be aiding and abetting the unlawful act of torture and so committing an indictable offence under Section 134 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, so triggering the power to enter the premises that I have just described. So there is no doubt about the powers that the police enjoy to carry out necessary action on aircraft where there is reasonable suspicion of an offence being committed. If what was being committed is that which was described by noble Lords this evening, I have indicated that that would be a clear offence.