MPs grill Clarke over deportations
Charles Clarke has denied he is seeking changes to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) because it hinders the deportation of terrorist suspects.
Giving evidence to MPs probing the aftermath of the London terror attacks, the home secretary said he only wanted to ensure judges balanced out the rights of the suspects with rights of terrorist victims.
And he insisted that strengthening his powers to deport foreign nationals whose presence was not in the national interest was a proportionate response to the July 7th attacks.
Probed on the list of ‘unacceptable behaviours’ that could result in somebody being deported or barred from Britain, Mr Clarke said it was put out for consultation – albeit for only two weeks – and did take into account certain concerns raised during that time.
But he told the home affairs committee: “I fundamentally think it’s not [going] too far.
“If there are people who are abusing this country’s [laws] in order to be able to prosecute terrorism in any way, I think it’s perfectly reasonable for me to use my powers to say these people can’t be in this country.”
And the home secretary insisted that his increased powers – which did not need to be put before parliament but were announced publicly – were not a threat to free speech.
Mr Clarke also defended the government’s use of memoranda of understanding (MoA) to get around provisions in the ECHR stating that deportees could not be sent to countries where they may be tortured.
Critics have argued that MoA with countries such as the Lebanon and Egypt are not worth the paper they are printed on, and this accusation was raised again today by committee member Nick Harvey.
But the home secretary rejected this argument, and also insisted that he had no intention of seeking changes to the ECHR to get around this problem. He said only that the judiciary should take account of the “full circumstances” when dealing with terror suspects.
“What I do believe is that it is very, very important that in [the convention’s] operation, the human rights of individuals who are being charged with particular offences are considered side by side with the human rights of those who have been blown up,” he said.
“As it happens I believe most judges accept that. I am not seeking changes to the convention.”
The committee also pressed Mr Clarke on why, if foreign nationals were considered such a threat, action to strengthen his powers of deportation was not taken earlier. Chairman John Denham asked whether the government had to wait for people to die to take action.
“What I was saying was that the events of July 7th illuminated a certain set of issues about the kind of threat we were under,” the home secretary responded, adding that it then seemed “incumbent” on him to answer that question and react.
