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Policing and Crime Bill

I thought that the noble Lord was involved, and I apologise because I had not realised that the process was quite as speedy as he has now told the House it was. The point remains. In this globalised world, when you can affect what happens in other countries by the touch of a computer button, it must be right that we should agree to speedier procedures. The problem arose because of the point that the noble Baroness and the noble Lord raised about the apparent imbalance between the information requirements. That is the fundamental point. When I was in the position that my noble and learned friend the Attorney-General now holds, I wanted to know more about the difference because it is plain that there is a difference on the face of the words. I called two people into my office—the senior Crown Prosecution Service lawyer responsible for the requests which went to the United States for extraditions from that country and the liaison officer from the United States embassy responsible for processing the requests that came from the US to the United Kingdom. I asked those lawyers to explain what they put together in their dossiers. It became clear to me that, whatever the wording was, the dossiers were the same. They were providing the same information in as out. I think that my noble and learned friend will be able to say—because it is no longer my responsibility—whether that remains the view of the Government, based on the empirical evidence. I accept that the words are different, and the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, is right as to the constitutional reason why the United States has insisted on a particular form of words and that it cannot do more than that, but in practice the information requests are the same. I look forward to hearing what my noble and learned friend says about that and whether my recollection of what took place then remains the case.