HL Deb 21 January 1999 vol 596 c117WA
Lord Lamont of Lerwick

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether, when, following an application for extradition, the accompanying warrant is found to be defective, the Home Office normally would so advise the legal representatives of the accused and the police. [HL500]

Lord Williams of Mostyn

Home Office officials can identify no record of a Home Secretary cancelling a provisional warrant in recent years but, if such a decision were taken, the accused's legal representatives and the police would have been informed. This power has been rarely invoked. I am advised that my officials have been able to find one example, dating from 1911, which followed the withdrawal of the application for extradition by the requesting country.