Results 1-20 of 98 for terrorism speaker:Alan Beith

[Miss Anne Begg in the Chair] — Bill of Rights (UK) (25 Jun 2009)

Alan Beith: ...some of its advocates seem to hope that it would cause the Human Rights Act 1998 to have less impact than it does now. Much of what I am talking about relates to derogations in the context of anti-terrorism legislation, or matters in such legislation that are not the subject of derogation but which have been sources of loss of rights. Paragraph 37 of the report deals with evidence about...

Coroners and Justice Bill (26 Jan 2009) has video

Alan Beith: ...experienced in even greater measure in areas such as mine in Northumberland or, indeed, in Cumbria. Those areas need to be provided for. I come now to the provisions that originated in the Counter-Terrorism Bill of 2008, which relate to holding some inquests without a jury, in secret and in circumstances in which even the family will not be party to some of the proceedings. In fairness to...

Business of the House: HMP Woodhill (21 Feb 2008)

Alan Beith: ...doctrine is often misunderstood as though it meant that a Member of Parliament is totally immune from the interception of communications even if engaged in serious crime or aiding and abetting terrorism? What the doctrine actually means is that such an exceptional interception would require the highest level of authority and would subsequently have to be disclosed to the House of Commons....

Orders of the Day — Terrorism Bill (26 Oct 2005)

Alan Beith: The Home Secretary is rightly dealing with the theme of values. What about the value to which Lord Carlile referred when he criticised the excessive use of section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000? He described its use as a substantial encroachment into the reasonable expectation of the public at large that they would face police intervention in their lives only if there was a reasonable...

Prevention of Terrorism Bill (10 Mar 2005)

Mr Alan Beith: I would like to take the right hon. Gentleman's mind back to the debates on the annual renewal of the prevention of terrorism Act, which are essentially the mechanism that the Government have so far agreed for a reconsideration of that Act year by year. The dilemma that faced the Labour party year after year was whether to oppose the renewal, in the face of the argument that Labour would...

Orders of the Day — Constitutional Reform Bill [Lords] — [3rd Allotted Day]: Schedule 1 — Powers to make rules (1 Mar 2005)

Mr Alan Beith: ...on Constitutional Affairs and the Minister to reflect on one further point. In order to achieve what the hon. and learned Gentleman has just described for the purposes of the Prevention of Terrorism Bill, the Lord Chancellor could have simply relied on the schedule that we are now discussing. I do not understand why it was felt necessary to include those provisions yesterday. Paragraph...

Orders of the Day — Constitutional Reform Bill [Lords] — [3rd Allotted Day]: Schedule 1 — Powers to make rules (1 Mar 2005)

Mr Alan Beith: The Lord Chancellor confirmed in open session this morning that the powers in the Prevention of Terrorism Bill, as opposed to those that we are discussing now, are not UK wide. That is to say that no Minister has the power to direct the Court of Session to have certain rules. That provision simply does not exist and the Lord Chancellor confirmed as much today, so the Minister may be basing...

Orders of the Day — Constitutional Reform Bill [Lords] — [3rd Allotted Day]: Clause 8 — Head and deputy head of criminal justice (1 Mar 2005)

Mr Alan Beith: ...at a Committee hearing this morning that the sort of powers conferred later in the Bill to make court rules for Northern Ireland, for example, do not arise from this Bill or from the Prevention of Terrorism Bill, which we discussed yesterday. It will not be possible for the Government to make rules imposing Special Immigration Appeals Commission procedures on the Court of Session in...

Prevention of Terrorism Bill (Programme) (No. 2) (28 Feb 2005)

Mr Alan Beith: If the hon. Lady looks back on the collective parliamentary experience to, say, the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1974, she will see that it was discussed through the night and all clauses were examined. That is a very different situation from the one in which I find myself now. I am particularly interested in clause 9 and the schedule, because they will determine whether...

Belmarsh Judgment (8 Feb 2005)

Mr Alan Beith: .... There was relatively little difficulty in reaching agreement on the matters that we are debating today and what we should propose to the Government. We found many other things wrong with the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001. The Newton committee was set up because the 2001 legislation was rushed through both Houses of Parliament on the basis that its purpose was to deal with a...

Iraq (20 Jul 2004)

Mr Alan Beith: ...the Prime Minister has continued to use the argument that the need to attack Iraq was primarily based on the necessity to deal with a rogue state because of what he described as the "nexus between terrorism and WMD". When the Intelligence and Security Committee quoted the JIC's assessment that "any collapse of the Iraqi regime would increase the risk of chemical and biological warfare...

Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security (25 Feb 2004)

Mr Alan Beith: ...started from very different positions, but we reached unanimous conclusions on all the matters that appear in the report. The committee was in no doubt at all that the threat to this country from terrorism is very serious and has to be addressed by coherent legislation and effective Government action. That was not in dispute, and if it had been the material that we saw during our inquiries...

Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security (25 Feb 2004)

Mr Alan Beith: ...of recommendations, many of which are about the way in which we monitor or scrutinise various processes that limit the freedom of the individual. Some of them have little or nothing to do with terrorism. The committee made a series of recommendations on those subjects. I shall give just one example, because it would take up too much of the House's time to go into all of them. It relates to...

Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security (25 Feb 2004)

Mr Alan Beith: ...: "Disagree. The Government believes that this power allows the Government to react quickly to changing circumstances that are a feature of many of the areas covered in the Act." That is not just terrorism, because the 2001 Act covers a wide variety of offences. The response goes on to say: "It is correct that terrorism legislation is placed on a permanent footing and that powers contained...

Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security (25 Feb 2004)

Mr Alan Beith: ...others have not had the opportunity to do so, I have concentrated on the area about which I feel more discontented by the Home Secretary's response. Many of the recommendations go far beyond terrorism, and I therefore put in a very strong plea for the extension of the spirit of consensus that the Home Secretary sought to include in part 4 of the 2001 Act into areas where the Government's...

Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security (25 Feb 2004)

Mr Alan Beith: On that basis, the Home Secretary clearly agrees with me that the threat from terrorism will not go away in the near future, and therefore we cannot consider the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 as temporary or emergency legislation. Is he therefore content to retain legislation in a form that does not fully meet requirements—for example, dealing with British...

Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security (25 Feb 2004)

Mr Alan Beith: ...that one of the reasons for setting up the committee was that there was a lot of anxiety about rushing legislation through Parliament when significant parts of it extended far beyond the realm of terrorism? Given that the response rejects quite a lot of the committee's recommendations relating to greater monitoring in the areas that are not primarily about terrorism, will he at least...

Lord Hutton's Report (4 Feb 2004)

Mr Alan Beith: ...I believe there is still a no man's land. I hope that the inquiry will trespass into that no man's land, and I am not happy with terms of reference that exclude it. I turn to the report's points on terrorism. In paragraph 126, the ISC refers to the JIC assessment that "al-Qaida and associated groups . . . represent by far the greatest terrorist threat to Western interests, and that threat...

Prime Minister: Engagements (22 Oct 2003)

Mr Alan Beith: ..., I should like to see all three party leaders remain in robust health and leaders of their parties. May I turn the Prime Minister's attention, however, to an unacceptable aspect of the war against terrorism—namely, the continued existence of a legal no-man's-land at Guantanamo Bay, where UK citizens and others do not face trial under UK law or US law or according to international...