Clause 1
Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Bill
5:15 pm
Alan Reid (Shadow Minister, Northern Ireland Affairs; Argyll and Bute, Liberal Democrat)
I accept that there has to be a risk, but without definitions of “friend” and “relative” the wording is far too vague. We should remember that under the clause the DPP has the absolute right to take decisions and cannot be challenged by a court. If the DUP—I mean the DPP—[Interruption.] I hope that it will not be the DUP that takes the decision. The DPP will take the decision, so we need clear definitions. As I said, we do not know where the definition of relative will end. I hope that the Minister will give examples from other legislation and reassure us that the definitions are clear.