Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Bill

I shall address the issue of exceptional circumstances in a moment. Like all Bills introduced by the Government, the front cover of this Bill states that the Bill is compliant with human rights legislation, which is a guarantee that affects the whole of the Bill. We simply think it important to reaffirm that fact in this particular clause to achieve absolute clarity. Given the debates that we have had and the uncertainty that some may feel was engendered by the original drafting of the clause, this is a belt-and-braces measure to make it absolutely clear that the provision is compliant with the European convention on human rights. In Committee, the hon. Member for North Down argued persuasively that the original drafting of clause 7 was only a partial reflection of the Shuker judgment, in that it gave grounds for bad faith and dishonesty, but not for the other exceptional circumstances covered in that judgment. We have considered the matter carefully and have decided to amend clause 7 to make it clear that the whole of the Shuker judgment is covered. That was our objective with clause 7, which is clearer now. We have considered whether we can specify in greater detail the exceptional circumstances. In the end, we have decided to leave that as a matter for judges themselves. In doing so, we have considered the views of the Lord Chief Justice and Lord Justice Campbell, who have said:"““We do not consider that it would be helpful, or even possible, to predict what those grounds might be.””" We feel content to leave it to the courts to decide what exceptional circumstances might be, rather than prescribing them in this House. I am sure that the test that is applied will be reflected in case law, so people in Northern Ireland will be in no doubt about the level at which that test is set, but we think it right to leave it to them. I may have persuaded some hon. Members—it should be evident to all—that I listened carefully in Committee. We have moved in a direction that many will welcome, but we have possibly not gone as far as others would have had us go.