Results 1-20 of 3,877 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:David Heath

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

David Heath: Enthusiasm for the fantasy Queen's Speech is obviously shared by Members from the right hon. and learned Lady's party, who are here in such great numbers today. The reality is that, whatever she says about the wash-up-and I understand how the term applies in this instance-almost all these measures will not make it through their parliamentary stages. Those that do will be abracadabra Bills:...

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

David Heath: I am a little surprised to be called ahead the Lord Chancellor, but I am grateful for the opportunity to say a few words. At this stage of a Bill, it worries me that expediency and pragmatism often take over from principle and legal accuracy, and we end up with statutes that are often a process of negotiation rather than what any party to the negotiation would like in the Bill. I am concerned...

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

David Heath: To say that we sat on our hands when we supported in a very close Division the proposals of the hon. Member for Hendon seems a most extraordinary position for the Lord Chancellor to take, but rather than pursue an utterly sterile argument—

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

David Heath: And I am perfectly happy to continue to raise it, except that it is not the matter before us today, but if we had secured a majority in the House that we so nearly secured in support of the proposal of the hon. Member for Hendon, I would have considered that a satisfactory outcome. If we had succeeded in having the support of the Conservative party in another place for the amendments that my...

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

David Heath: Very well, let us accept what the hon. and learned Gentleman has said, and let us move on to the substance of the current proposal. I do not think that Lords amendment 1B quite counts as Government plan B—it is probably plan C or D at this stage—but it is the alternative formulation that was presented to another place. Notwithstanding my reservations about the whole process, we...

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

David Heath: I certainly will, Mr. Speaker. I often accept interventions in order to allow colleagues to get their points on record. Let me be very brief in response to the hon. Gentleman's intervention. Hypothetically, what he suggests is possible. [ Interruption ] The Lord Chancellor says from a sedentary position that it is what would happen, but it is a very unsatisfactory position. If the Lord Chief...

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

David Heath: The hon. Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore) has raised a good point, but the beauty of the amendment that we are considering is that the Lord Chief Justice would be in a position to say that he would accept a transfer only when intercept evidence was involved.

Bill Presented: Clause 45 — Meaning of "qualifying trigger" (9 Nov 2009) has video

David Heath: On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. We had an unsatisfactory end to the previous debate due to the terms of the programme motion. The amendment in lieu, on which the whole House had expected to vote, could be properly considered only if the Lord Chancellor was prepared to move it from the Dispatch Box. Is it not the case that the same will apply with the forthcoming group of amendments,...

Business of the House (5 Nov 2009) has video

David Heath: First, I thank you, Mr. Speaker, and all the Officers of the House, for the conduct of the meeting of the Youth Parliament last Friday. I thought that it was a huge success, and we should mark it as such. Will the Leader of the House consider the way in which the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill has been timetabled? That constitutional Bill is in Committee of the whole House, and 16...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: New Clause 21 — Chief executive of the Supreme Court (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Heath: The hon. Gentleman wishes to intervene on the subject of carpets.

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: New Clause 21 — Chief executive of the Supreme Court (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Heath: We have got an excellent building. Those who represent the top of this country's judicial processes deserve an appropriate building. Far from being lugubrious, I suspect that it is now a rather good place to work. It has retained the best features of the Middlesex Guildhall intact; I am particularly pleased that the building contains a very prominent portrait—there might be two in the...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: New Clause 21 — Chief executive of the Supreme Court (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Heath: I was expecting a totally different argument from the hon. Member for North-West Norfolk (Mr. Bellingham). I thought he was going to present an argument with which I have a degree of sympathy. Indeed, given the words on the amendment paper, I can still make his new clause fit my aspirations—but for the wrong reasons, it would appear. I thought he was trying to make sure that the role...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: New clause 20 — Lords Justices of Appeal (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Heath: I agree entirely, and it showed good co-operation between the two ends of Parliament and with the senior judiciary, who played an important role in achieving a good outcome from inauspicious beginnings. That is not to say that I object to the vast bulk of the proposals as they ended up, because I felt that they were right. They were changes that many of us had advocated for some time, but...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: New clause 20 — Lords Justices of Appeal (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Heath: Obviously, a process, however simple, can be delayed in its execution. It might well be that those criticisms were entirely justified, and if so, I hope the JAC takes them into account and addresses the cause of the delay. I hope, too, that the Ministry of Justice is equally engaged in the process. However, I do not think that we can criticise a process for delay if the cause of the delay is...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: New clause 20 — Lords Justices of Appeal (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Heath: In the case of the current Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice, the difference would probably not be very great. However, the hon. Gentleman knows his history, and he knows that the history of judicial appointments has not always been a good one. He knows that, in the past, some Lords Chancellor have blatantly abused their position in respect of judicial appointments. He might recall Lord...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: New clause 20 — Lords Justices of Appeal (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Heath: But not enough of them. And look at the Supreme Court—there are not enough there! We cannot hold up the current population in the higher levels of the judiciary and say that it reflects modern Britain. However, it is not because of a paucity of candidates that we cannot address that situation, which is why I think it is important to have the judicial appointments system as it currently...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: New clause 20 — Lords Justices of Appeal (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Heath: There is an awful lot wrong with ministerial appointments, but let us not divert ourselves by discussing what is wrong with those. The hon. Gentleman might well be right—but there we are! In any case, the sort of person who will be put off by the process is the sort of person whom I am not sure I want as a judge, because it suggests that they have such high regard for their own dignity...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: New clause 20 — Lords Justices of Appeal (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Heath: I listened carefully to the hon. Member for North-West Norfolk (Mr. Bellingham) and I heard much background history of the events that led to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, but I did not hear a convincing argument in favour of his new clauses. I will address the issues that he raised, but I am not yet convinced that I should advise my right hon. and hon. Friends to support his new...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: New clause 20 — Lords Justices of Appeal (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Heath: I am listening intently to the preamble to the subject of the hon. Gentleman's new clauses. I understand that he has concerns about the way in which the JAC works, but why is he exclusively concerned about the way it selects Lords Justices of Appeal and not, apparently, about the way it appoints Lords Chief Justice, heads of division or puisne judges?

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Clause 36 — Salary protection for members of tribunals (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Heath: I have a couple of very brief questions about clause 36. They also relate to Government new clause 23, which is a very similar provision relating to Northern Ireland. I therefore hope, Sir Michael, that it will not disturb our proceedings too greatly if we do not repeat these questions later. First, why have the specific offices mentioned in the clause been chosen? Do any similar offices...