The Bill proposes a new Ministerial power to instigate, by application to the Court, a Closed Material Procedure (CMP) where the Minister considers that disclosure of certain material would be damaging to national security. Up until now, CMP has been available – controversially – in a very small number of specialist proceedings, such as in relation to TPIMs/control orders.
CMP takes place entirely in private; only the judge, the Government’s lawyers and a Special Advocate appointed by the Government for the litigant - who is also shut out alongside their lawyer – are present. Unlike normal legal representatives Special Advocates are unable to disclose material to their ‘client’ and are instead required to contest evidence against their ‘client’ on the basis of guesswork and estimation.
It is not surprising that there has been widespread opposition to the extension of CMP since the Government first announced their intentions in a Green Paper in late 2011. Even the majority of the Special Advocates, who are the ones who know CMP best and on whose participation this whole Bill is based, have stated that these proposals are unnecessary and unfair.
Liberty launched a campaign against these proposals on Valentine’s Day 2012 – see the details on the For Their Eyes Only campaign page. You can also read Liberty’s response to the Justice and Security Green Paper here. Our evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights, which found that there is simply insufficient evidence to bring forth the Green Paper proposals, is available here.
House of Lords
House of Commons
The Justice and Security Bill is rotten to the core: it
fatally undermines the Rule of Law, eroding bedrock principles of open justice
and equality before the law and will seriously weaken Government accountability.
If passed, the Bill will prevent serious state abuses – such as torture – from
coming to light; give Ministers the power to skew court proceedings heavily in
their favour; and severely damage public access to justice over Government
wrongdoing.