Clause 64
Counter-Terrorism Bill
5:15 pm
David Heath (Somerton and Frome, Liberal Democrat)
I intend to speak to my amendment No. 32, which is in this group. I will preface my remarks by again saying how grateful I was for the opportunity to go to the Home Office and discuss these matters with officials. It was extremely helpful and it is a good Government policy to share views on contentious parts of Bills in that way. Having said that, I am not persuaded that the provisions within the Bill at the moment are an appropriate way of dealing with a very circumscribed issue that was described to us as a problem. I still believe that the much-promised coroners Bill is the appropriate vehicle for reform of the coroners system and for this purpose, notwithstanding that I understand that a long-awaited inquest cannot be held under present arrangements.
Some fundamental principles of the coroners system and article 2 rights with regard to the investigation of deaths are in danger—I put it at no higher than that—of being compromised by the proposals before us. There are two issues here: first, the inquest being held without a jury and, secondly, the inquest being held by an appointed coroner and in private. We are dealing at this point with the certificate requiring the inquest to be held without a jury. The Minister may well say that this would affect only a very small number of cases because the vast majority of inquests—98 per cent., I think—are already held without a jury. The 2 per cent. that have a jury present are the most contentious of inquests and they are the ones that require the most careful scrutiny because the death that has occurred involves an agent of the state. It is right that people should clearly have the opportunity to see that the state is not acting as judge and jury in its own court and that there is proper scrutiny of all the arguments, a proper investigation and a proper verdict. The public is rightly reassured by a jury being present in those circumstances.
It may well be that there is a very limited number of cases where there is a difficulty with that and I understand that. I am not trying to disguise the fact that there may be difficulties where there is evidently an expectation that material will be revealed in the course of an inquest that is prejudicial to our national security. I understand that, but when I question whether a public interest immunity certificate cannot suffice I am told that the measure is better than the PII system because it will ensure that the eventual outcome is made public.