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Cluster Munitions (Prohibitions) Bill [Lords]

The hon. Gentleman raised concerns about the clause, and touched on possible implications for devolved interests, and specifically Northern Ireland, which is the area of concern to me. I hope that the Minister, when he replies, can offer some assurance on a number of matters. First, I want to stress that those of us who strongly support the Bill want to see within it provision to ensure that, as the convention changes, modifications can be made to the Bill. Clearly, this is a significant convention; it is the most significant disarmament treaty for a decade—hopefully, not the most significant for the decade to come, but it might be. However, if it is changed, and if it grows, obviously we want legislation here to be able to track and reflect that. So providing some instrument for ready and reliable modification is a matter of sensible and good intent on the part of the Government. To that extent, and if that is the motivation behind the clause, I am comfortable with it. However, concerns arise about how the clause is then used. As the hon. Member for Stone (Mr. Cash) said, it is premised on what the Secretary of State "considers necessary or desirable" to give effect to any amendment made to the convention. In the first instance, two questions arise: first, the clause gives the Secretary of State the power to so modify the Bill. We know that there have been changes to various other international conventions that many hon. Members have lobbied to have reflected in law here, only to find that the Government, for whatever reason, have been dilatory in doing so or have decided that they do not think it necessary or desirable to reflect changes to conventions enacted elsewhere in the law here. So, if the Secretary of State chooses not to make such a modification, it is possible in any other way for House to make such modifications? Secondly, what happens if the Secretary of State uses a change in the convention not just to introduce a change to the Act that everyone else agrees is necessary and sensible, but to bring forward other changes that many people might not agree are necessary and uses the provision as a cover for various other modifications that would be equivalent to a derogation from the convention?