Clause 57
Counter-Terrorism Bill
4:15 pm
Tony McNulty (Minister of State (Security, Counter-terrorism, Crime and Policing), Home Office; Harrow East, Labour)
No, I think that I am saying that that will be duly reflected in the rules of court because it is part of the process now.
Amendment No. 207 is not necessary. It would be more appropriate to preserve the court’s discretion to determine whether a hearing is appropriate and to avoid inappropriate wasteful hearings, notwithstanding my point about cases where both parties agree not to proceed with the hearing. We therefore resist the amendment, although we do not dismiss it entirely.
Amendments Nos. 208 and 214 would—quite rightly in the minds of those who tabled them, I guess—delete some or all of clause 57(4), which would entirely defeat the purpose of the asset-freezing provisions in part 5. This part creates, by way of the appointment of a special advocate to represent the interests of the applicant, a way in which the Treasury can reveal to the court and to the special advocate closed material on which it relies, but that it cannot, for reasons of national security or public interest, make available more widely—including to the applicant. I will therefore resist those amendments.
Amendments Nos. 213, 216 and 217 all relate to the protection of fairness, and I agree with the right hon. and learned Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham that it is very important that, in all disputes, the proceedings are, and are seen to be, conducted fairly. Of course, I am going to invoke article 6 of the European convention on human rights, among other things. In a very recent judgment—I think that it was made in October or November last year—a similar special advocacy system was broadly afforded a clean bill of health by the House of Lords. It was an overall judgment. All sides sought clarity from it, although that was not forthcoming in all regards—there was a little bit in it for everybody. The amendments are not necessary for the protection of fairness for the individual.
Amendment No. 225 is a requirement to disclose adverse material. This too runs counter to the whole premise of a special advocate system, which, at its root, has a desire to instil as much fairness as possible in the system. Amendment No. 226 refers to the proposed additional requirement for material in support of the applicant to be disclosed, which, again, runs counter to what we are seeking through the special advocacy system and by trying to be as fair as possible to the designated person.
In summary, we think that putting the special advocate element in the Bill is useful and substantially better than the system that prevails for all concerned at the moment. It is rooted in law and systems that are already in place under control orders, the Special Immigration Appeals Commissionand the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission. I do not think that any of the amendments offer a substantial improvement, and I urge that they all be resisted.
Mr. Hogg rose—