Results 1-20 of 4,744 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Dominic Grieve

Coroners and Justice Bill: Schedule 1 — Duty or power to suspend or resume investigations (12 Nov 2009)

Dominic Grieve: I am grateful to all the hon. Members who have participated in the debate and to the Secretary of State for the way in which he has responded, but I remain of the view that our amendment is useful. I hate to think that if we did not press it to the vote, I would regret it at a later date in the realisation that it would have helped in the interpretation of a difficult clause. I therefore wish...

Coroners and Justice Bill: Schedule 1 — Duty or power to suspend or resume investigations (12 Nov 2009)

Dominic Grieve: I am grateful to the Secretary of State for having put on the record so clearly the issues surrounding the protocol and the protections that he intends to put in the Bill, but he may agree that amendment (a) does no harm. Its merit is that it focuses on the issue of the suspension of the coroner's inquiry. For that reason, I again press him to agree that there is a really good reason for...

Coroners and Justice Bill: Schedule 1 — Duty or power to suspend or resume investigations (12 Nov 2009)

Dominic Grieve: Again, my hon. Friend has made a good point. One of the deficiencies of the system that the Government have decided to adopt—although at this late stage, it is the best that we shall get—is that the nature of the communications that would take place between the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice is not clear. Lord Bach tried to set out something of the procedure, but it is...

Coroners and Justice Bill: Schedule 1 — Duty or power to suspend or resume investigations (12 Nov 2009)

Dominic Grieve: I do not wish to get involved in a spat with the hon. Gentleman, but when we debated the matter on the last occasion, I could not have made clearer my reservations about the amendments that we were to vote on. I made it clear that the reason why we would support those amendments was that we wanted to prolong the debate to try to resolve the issue, although I recognise that those amendments...

Coroners and Justice Bill: Schedule 1 — Duty or power to suspend or resume investigations (12 Nov 2009)

Dominic Grieve: I beg to move amendment (a) to Lords amendment 1B.

Coroners and Justice Bill: Schedule 1 — Duty or power to suspend or resume investigations (12 Nov 2009)

Dominic Grieve: When this matter was last before the House, there was an extensive debate about whether the Bill contained sufficient safeguards in respect of converting an inquest process, which would be open and with a jury, into an inquiry process, part of which might have to take place in secret to allow intercept evidence to be used. There has been a lengthy debate while the matter has gone through the...

Coroners and Justice Bill: Schedule 1 — Duty or power to suspend or resume investigations (12 Nov 2009)

Dominic Grieve: The hon. Gentleman makes a powerful and important point. Given the problems, it could be that intercept might be the only possible trigger for such an inquiry, but I take his point. When I look back on the Bill's passage through the House, there have been difficulties in focusing on the key ways to resolve this issue. As I have told the Secretary of State, I have always had some sympathy for...

Coroners and Justice Bill: Schedule 1 — Duty or power to suspend or resume investigations (12 Nov 2009)

Dominic Grieve: The hon. Gentleman has anticipated me by a few sentences, and I shall deal with that point in a moment.

Coroners and Justice Bill: Schedule 1 — Duty or power to suspend or resume investigations (12 Nov 2009)

Dominic Grieve: My right hon. Friend and I have worked on this together, and he knows that the Opposition have long been consistent in our desire to see intercept evidence being available to prosecute prisoners and in other settings, including inquests. That remains our commitment, and that is why my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Mr. Howard) sits on the Chilcot...

Coroners and Justice Bill: Schedule 1 — Duty or power to suspend or resume investigations (12 Nov 2009)

Dominic Grieve: My hon. Friend is right, and that is the next point that I want to address. The Government came up with their amendment in the other place, but my hon. Friend the Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) is right that it proposes a full judicial scrutiny process, with a Minister making an application to a court in a hearing at which interested parties can make representations. I would...

Point of Order (10 Nov 2009) has video

Dominic Grieve: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I noted that in answer to the hon. Member for Islington, South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry), the Justice Secretary seemed to make a statement about sentencing in knife crime. I was not aware of any written or oral statement having been made, so I wondered whether that was a novel way of making such a statement.

Point of Order (10 Nov 2009)

Dominic Grieve: rose—

Point of Order (10 Nov 2009)

Dominic Grieve: Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. I am grateful for the Secretary of State's explanation, but is not the purpose of making an oral statement to give hon. Members the opportunity to ask questions about it? The reality of these circumstances, however, makes that practice impossible, particularly as those on the Front Bench have asked their questions earlier. I would be grateful for...

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Antisocial Behaviour (Sentencing) (10 Nov 2009)

Dominic Grieve: The Minister will agree that one driver of antisocial behaviour is alcohol and, in some cases, hard drugs. However, the average fine for possessing crack cocaine has dropped from £300 to £38 in just three years. Does the Minister accept that that sends out the most extraordinary mixed messages about the importance that the Government attach to the use of hard drugs and misbehaviour...

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Antisocial Behaviour (Sentencing) (10 Nov 2009)

Dominic Grieve: The Minister's comments are pure bluster. The situation is actually much worse than that. The Director of Public Prosecutions is now reviewing the Government's caution culture. Will the Minister explain how we have a situation in which a 15-year-old boy can be cautioned for rape and a man can be cautioned for glassing a woman in a pub? Is that the hon. Lady's idea of summary justice?

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Criminal Trial Acquittals (Costs) (10 Nov 2009)

Dominic Grieve: It is not legally aided.

Bill Presented: Clause 61 — Hatred against persons on grounds of sexual orientation (9 Nov 2009) has video

Dominic Grieve: Quite apart from the fact that the Minister's remarks are rather offensive in terms of the views of Members on the Opposition Benches, I have absolutely no doubt that section 5 of the Public Order Act was not intended to be applied in the way it has been applied. I have no doubt that if the provision had been debated in the House exactly the same assurances would have been given. The fact of...