Member

There were many prescient points and much legal analysis made in our deliberations in Committee on that clause. After those debates, I informed the House that the Government had agreed to accept the amendment to remove the clause. The amendment I am moving today bears some resemblance to the clause which the Government at that time agreed to remove, but it goes much further. In that regard, I believe I have taken the sting out of one of the more damning lines of criticism which troubled the last attempt—which was the argument that the clause was simply unnecessary because Article 15 already permits member states to derogate from certain convention rights in time of war or public emergency threatening the life of the nation. However, that is on the basis of “could” or “may”.