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Armed Forces Bill

I am grateful to the Minister for his reply and to those who have spoken in this short debate. The noble Baroness, Lady D’Souza, has been a great ally in looking at the different aspects of how we can ensure that extraordinary rendition does not happen in movements either within the United Kingdom or through United Kingdom airspace. The noble Earl, Lord Attlee, was supportive but wanted even more. As extraordinary rendition is illegal for the reasons that the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, explained, I think that my amendment encompasses the noble Earl’s concerns. I am again grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Campbell of Alloway, for his continuing support in this area. I take very much to heart what the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Craig, said about the problems of other states taking reciprocal action, but I do not think that that can stop us ensuring that we have in place the right procedures for obeying international law. I thought that the analysis of the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, was wonderful. I take full responsibility for the drafting—I am not a lawyer, nor ever will be—and I look forward to receiving help in getting the words right. The problem would be solved if the Hansard report of the noble Lord’s speech were issued to every commanding officer, because it would tell them what their responsibilities were. The Minister said it is unfair to put such responsibilities on them. But it is not a question of whether it is unfair to put these responsibilities on them—they have them under international law and cannot get out of it. Whether they know they have this responsibility is an entirely different matter, but you cannot start excusing the responsibility on the basis of bureaucratic burdens and so on. As we all know, commanding officers have lots of bureaucratic burdens of one kind or another. They do not personally go and inspect every aircraft that comes through—they have systems—but they are the focus of responsibility. The Bill gives them that responsibility in many different areas and the amendment would be no different. Although I accept that the drafting of the amendment is imperfect, the sentiment is strongly felt in various parts of the Committee. We need to look at the drafting and consider by what other system, if not in the Bill, we can alert commanding officers to their present responsibilities if they are not ultimately to get themselves into hot water. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Schedule 14 agreed to. Clauses 355 and 356 agreed to.