Counter-Terrorism Bill

My Lords, if the Crown prosecutor—I accept the noble Lord’s earlier rebuke—makes an application to the judge for post-charge questioning into a certain area, it is quite simple; the judge permits the application as it is drafted. If further matters arise in the course of the questioning into that area, as applied for, there is nothing to stop the Crown prosecutor going back to the court and seeking to delineate a further area in which he wishes to question the accused person. This will not make a great deal of difference from a practical point of view. I follow the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, when he says that the interests of justice must decisively come first, because if the judge thinks that it is the interests of justice that questioning should be allowed only in one area and not in another, he can make that order under the clause.