Free Gary McKinnon

The Parliamentary "ping pong" over the Extradition Act 2003 amendments in the Police and Justice Bill continued on Monday 6th November 2006, as the House of Commons again rejected the Lords' amendments, by 298 votes to 204.

See this BBC report

The Labour Government actually introduced amendments which incorporated the Opposition ones, but used a technical trick, to say up front, that they never intend these amendments to be brought into force.

House of Commons Hansard 6th November 2006 Column 625:

"John Reid: Yes, I can. It might help Members on both sides of the House if I were to explain the amendments. We have tabled the amendments in their proposed form simply to ensure that the Bill does not fall. As a technical measure to comply with the conventions of both Houses, we have inserted a so-called sunrise provision, which ensures that the amendments never see the light of day. Under the amendments, both Houses would need to pass a resolution before the amendments could come into force. The Government are not, of course, obliged to bring forward such a resolution, and have no intention of doing so. Consequently, the Government’s amendments have no practical effect in lying outwith the treaty. They do, however, enable us to cope with the conventions of both Houses."

This is the exact opposite of openness, transparency, and democratic accountability to the public, and shows how devious and manipulative the ex-Communist Home Secretary John Reid really is.

Will the House of Lords do the decent thing and insist on at least the Legal Forum amendment ?

Will the Bill run out of Parliamentary time this week and be lost ?
If it does so, at least there will be a chance to debate the issues again in the next session of Parliament when the Bill is re-introduced.

Hopefully, given the controversy, the Opposition parties will not
allow the Bill to be"carried over" to the next session, without having to be presented afresh.