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Safeguards

Volume 83: debated on Monday 22 July 1985

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Lords amendment: No. 6, in page 5, line 5, leave out "subsection (2)" and insert "subsections (2) and (3)"

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.

With this, it will be convenient to take Lords amendment No. 7, in page 5, line 17, at end insert "and"

No. 8, in page 5, leave out lines 19 to 21.

No. 9, in page 5, line 23, at end insert

"(3) The requirements of this subsection are satisfied in relation to any intercepted material if each copy made of any of that material is destroyed as soon as its retention is no longer necessary as mentioned in section 2(2) above."

These amendments incorporate in the clause 6 safeguards an express reference to the destruction of material the retention of which is no longer necessary. They fulfil an undertaking given following discussions in the other place of an amendment identical to the one moved by the hon. Member for Caithness and Sutherland (Mr. Maclennan) in Committee on 2 April. The change makes explicit the requirement that material must be destroyed as soon as it no longer meets the purposes for which warrants can be issued, and it can be welcomed by both sides of the House.

The amendment is welcome, but where are alliance Members? We hear a great deal about the concern of the Liberal and SDP Members for civil liberties, but not one of those hon. Members is present in the Chamber for this extremely important debate. They have a great deal to say outside the Chamber about their claims to work hard here, but when we are debating matters of fundamental importance to civil liberties, heaven alone knows where they are. It is important to have that on record.

If alliance Members are on that trip, they are doing something more constructive than they are normally doing. Nevertheless, it is offensive to the House that, when a Minister says that he is adding something to a Bill in response to a point made by the hon. Member for Caithness and Sutherland (Mr. Maclennan), neither the hon. Gentleman nor any of his colleagues is here.

Question put and agreed to.

Lords amendments Nos. 7 to 9 agreed to.