Clause 62 - National security
Equality Bill [Lords]
6:43 pm
Dominic Grieve (Shadow Attorney General, (Assist the Home Affairs Team); Beaconsfield, Conservative)
One reason why I was wondering about that was that if the Secretary of State's certificate provides a national security defence or opt-out, why do we need clause 70 at all? Presumably, a case with a national security angle will never get into court in the first place. I wanted a bit of clarification on that. I can infer that a national security angle might suddenly emerge in a case and that the court might need to go into camera or to keep the claimant out. Seeing that the Government have given themselves extensive powers to provide for a national security opt-out, however, it would be helpful if the Minister could set out in his letter exactly how he expects the provisions to operate in practice.