Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Bill

The hon. Gentleman knows that we made it clear on Second Reading that we were relaxed about continuing non-jury courts in Northern Ireland and, indeed, that given the circumstances in Northern Ireland, we believed that the Government were probably moving too fast towards doing away with non-jury courts. Indeed, the hon. Gentleman’s colleague, the hon. Member for Belfast, South (Dr. McDonnell), as a member of the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee, endorsed a report by that Committee indicating that we should not move quickly away from such trials because exceptional circumstances still remained.