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| Straw unveils witness legislation | Straw unveils witness legislation |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| Emergency legislation to restore trial judges' powers to grant anonymity to witnesses has been unveiled by Justice Secretary Jack Straw. | Emergency legislation to restore trial judges' powers to grant anonymity to witnesses has been unveiled by Justice Secretary Jack Straw. |
| A Law Lords' ruling on 18 June that defendants needed to know who was testifying against them has already led to one £6m trial being halted. | |
| The legislation will clarify when a witness anonymity order can be granted in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. | |
| The bill will go through all its stagesin Parliament on Tuesday next week. | |
| The government hopes the bill will become law before the parliamentary summer recess on 23 July. | The government hopes the bill will become law before the parliamentary summer recess on 23 July. |
| 'Cases in pipeline' | |
| Commons Leader Harriet Harman said Parliament needed to act quickly to prevent current cases being affected by the ruling. | |
| She told MPs: "The Lord Chancellor has been debating and discussing these issues and giving full briefings to members on all sides of the House. | |
| "The idea is to get as much agreement as possible but with the recognition that we need to do this quickly because of cases in the pipeline." | |
| The legislation will ensure that those convicted on the basis of anonymous evidence cannot have their conviction quashed solely on the grounds that anonymity was granted. | |
| The proposed measures in the Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Bill apply to both defence and prosecution witnesses. | |
| Police have warned that up to 40 trials may be affected by the Lords' ruling. | |
| The Scottish government has said it is "consulting closely" with the Ministry of Justice to see if similar provisions would be required in Scotland. |