Andrew Tyrie and Anthony Peto’s report, ‘Neither Just nor Secure’, published by the Centre for Policy Studies in January 2013, was referenced in The Guardian on Sunday 17th February 2013.
To view the full article, please visit The Guardian website
“It pays to ask a simple question when confronted with a piece of legislation such as the justice and security bill, which has become so complicated that probably no more than 100 people in the country fully understand it.
Outside parliament, there is a dim sense that the bill will introduce closed material procedures – secret courts – into English civil law in cases where national security is said to be at stake. People are beginning to appreciate that this means a claimant is banned from knowing anything about their case and that this in turn will make it easier for ministers and the intelligence agencies to cover up wrongdoing, such as rendition and torture.
But that is about the limit of public awareness.
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As a Centre for Policy Studies book by the influential Conservative MP Andrew Tyrie and QC Anthony Peto explains, national security can be used to apply secrecy to cases that have nothing to do with torture and do not, in reality, jeopardise national security. Closed material procedures could be ordered to limit legitimate protests, to hamper inquiries by journalists, to prevent people from recovering property seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act and to stop wounded servicemen from suing the Ministry of Defence for faulty equipment. Special advocates would be used to represent claimants who would never be allowed to know why their cases failed or succeeded.”
To view the full article, please visit The Guardian website
Andrew Tyrie and Anthony Peto’s report, ‘Neither Just nor Secure’, can be found here
Date Added: Monday 18th February 2013
