There cannot be two winners in these situations. It is certainly less than satisfactory that a case does not proceed to a final adjudication, and it may be that the Government are therefore, to some degree, a loser. However, the question is whether that consideration should take precedence over the rights of the individual, the other party to the case, to have a proper hearing and to put his side of the case. We have to make a choice, and the choice should be, “By all means let us preserve national security, if that is the ultimate requirement, but not at the expense of the other party, whose right to access to justice will have been obstructed”. That is the decision that we have to make. We have to do a balancing process ourselves, as legislators, and I hope that that is the line that we take.
Justice and Security Bill [HL]
Proceeding contribution from
Lord Beecham
(Labour)
in the House of Lords on Tuesday, 17 July 2012.
It occurred during Committee of the Whole House (HL)
and
Debate on bills on Justice and Security Bill [HL].
About this proceeding contribution
Reference
739 c173 Session
2012-13Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamberLibrarians' tools
Timestamp
2023-11-28 15:25:05 +0000
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