Results 1-20 of 20 for terrorism speaker:David Howarth

Public Bill Committee: : Clause 11 (10 Feb 2009)

David Howarth: ...the clause is all about the exclusion of the jury. I cannot understand why we cannot have juries on inquests where national security is at stake, as we do in criminal trials. Juries sit on espionage and terrorism cases; they do not necessarily sit in public, but they still have a jury, which is a crucial institution, not just in the world of criminal trials, but in the coroner’s court...

Public Bill Committee: Coroners and Justice Bill (3 Feb 2009)

David Howarth: What about the suggestion that juries could be vetted, as they are in the criminal justice system, for espionage and terrorism trials? That is a possibility under the Attorney-General’s guidelines on jury checking. Could that be applied to the coroner’s court?

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Coroners' Courts (3 Feb 2009) has video

David Howarth: ...The Government have asked for suggestions, so have they considered the possibility of security vetting inquest juries in the same way that juries can be vetted in criminal trials for espionage and terrorism? That procedure has been in place since at least 1989.

Coroners and Justice Bill (26 Jan 2009) has video

David Howarth: ...of the state or of the Government apparatus and that those people back up what the Government say. I admit that the provisions in this Bill are better than those in the Bill that became the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008. Thankfully, the provisions in that measure that allow the Secretary of State to influence the selection of a special, trusty coroner have been removed from this Bill. I hope...

Coroners and Justice Bill (26 Jan 2009) has video

David Howarth: ...hands of the judiciary in the first place, rather than into the hands of the Secretary of State. Part of the background problem is that the Executive distrust almost everyone else. In the Counter-Terrorism Bill, they attempted to take control of the selection of judges: that proposal was got rid of, but they are still obsessed with having some control over getting rid of anyone in the...

Orders of the Day — Consolidated Fund (Appropriation) (No. 2) Bill: Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Bill (Allocation of Time) (8 Jul 2008)

David Howarth: ...dangers in legislating too quickly. Knee-jerk legislation is one of British politics' besetting sins, especially in the area of criminal justice. The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 are just two examples, although the original Official Secrets Act 1911, passed by the last Liberal Government, was also far too quick. Slow politics, rather like slow food,...

Orders of the Day: Clause 65 — Certificate requiring inquest to be held without a jury: England and Wales (10 Jun 2008) has video

David Howarth: ...fundamental principle of the common law is at stake. The Secretary of State is not independent. The hon. Member for Hendon was right to say that these provisions have nothing inherently to do with terrorism. They include any case of the kind just mentioned. The provision that the simple certificate of the Secretary of State is enough to decide that the jury should no longer sit is almost...

Orders of the Day: Climate Change Bill [Lords] (9 Jun 2008) has video

David Howarth: ...King is the former chief scientific adviser who got into a lot of trouble for describing climate change as the most dangerous challenge facing the world. He said that it was more dangerous than terrorism. This week, above all weeks, it is worth repeating that remark, and never mind the trouble that it got him into. He was right. The scale of the problem that we face is the equivalent of...

Orders of the Day: Schedule 26 — Hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation (6 May 2008)

David Howarth: ..., of which there are three, all of which can be aggravated religiously and racially. There is also incitement to racial hatred and incitement to religious hatred. Then, of course, there are all the terrorism offences. The definition of terrorism is using violence to influence the Government in the interests of an ideology or a political or religious cause. Again, that is aimed at the idea...

Oral Answers to Questions — Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Constitutional Renewal (25 Mar 2008) has video

David Howarth: ...will not be reassured about, for example, the shameful events surrounding the dropping of the BAE Systems case? Why will the Attorney-General still have a power to stop prosecutions related to terrorism? Is it not important to fight terrorism on the basis of fighting crime, in a context that has nothing to do with political decisions? The proposals on not releasing the Attorney-General's...

Opposition Day — [17th allotted day]: Alleged Overseas Corruption (16 Jul 2007) has video

David Howarth: ...real; the question is what does one do if that is the situation that one perceives. The Government gave way to the threat, but the other argument is that doing so helps the fight against neither terrorism nor corruption. If that is what happened in this case, it sends out a very dangerous signal. In the long run, there is a greater threat to national security in giving way to such a threat...

Opposition Day — [17th allotted day]: Alleged Overseas Corruption (16 Jul 2007) has video

David Howarth: ...in the round, there is an implausibility about them, to use the word that the Solicitor-General picked up on. The implausibility is this: would a country that is our ally in the fight against terrorism take the actions that are currently being attributed to it and threaten the withdrawal of co-operation in the fight against terrorism, because of financial embarrassment? It might be true...

Opposition Day — [17th allotted day]: Alleged Overseas Corruption (16 Jul 2007) has video

David Howarth: ...in which the Attorney-General's office received further representations from the Cabinet Secretary about the public interest and raised the possibility of Saudi Arabia's co-operation on counter-terrorism being prejudiced. Nevertheless, at that stage the Attorney-General decided that the investigation should continue. That point did not come out in the evidence to the Select Committee. What...

Bill Presented: House of Lords Reform (6 Mar 2007)

David Howarth: ...times and very well. The second Chamber should be a check in a legislative process that often operates far too quickly. We legislate at great speed. In the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and various terrorism Bills we have approached a knee-jerk democracy. The problem with that is that the population of the country needs time to react. If we are to have any public influence on the political...

Orders of the Day: Energy Supply (30 Oct 2006)

David Howarth: ...reason for being against nuclear is that it remains a security problem. Nuclear power is the only form of energy that requires its own police force, the only form that is a plausible target for terrorism.

Public Bill Committee: Company Law Reform Bill [Lords]: Clause 115 (27 Jun 2006)

David Howarth: ...members of the company and perhaps by members of the public to debate and defend positions in the company. On the other side, there is the problem, which has arisen largely because of animal rights terrorism, of shareholders sometimes being intimidated and threatened with, or actually suffering, physical violence as a result of their shareholding. We became slightly overheated, and the...

Orders of the Day — Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill (9 Feb 2006)

David Howarth: Not common law companies, but almost any other body could be. The Minister has dealt with questions about changes to the Terrorism Bill, bringing back the 90 days detention without trial and the rights of defendants being changed. He says that, obviously, those are highly controversial, and they are, but the questions remain not just about fundamental rights, but about the structure of the...

Telecommunications Masts (28 Jun 2005)

David Howarth: ...unfair. It is not as if central Government are immune from similar panic attacks—for example, in the case of the Hatfield train crash, and the way in which central Government have dealt with terrorism. Local authority refusal rates, which worry the Government, arise out of the sense of powerlessness that several hon. Members, including the hon. Member for Guildford (Anne Milton),...