This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk_politics/7669445.stm

The article has changed 9 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 3 Version 4
'Secret inquests' plans dropped Secret inquests plans 'dropped'
(40 minutes later)
Ministers have dropped plans which would have allowed them to order inquests to be held in private. Plans which would have let ministers order inquests to be held in private on security grounds have been dropped from the Counter-Terrorism Bill.
The Counter-Terrorism Bill clause would have allowed ministers to remove juries - and relatives and the public - from hearings on national security grounds. The clause would have allowed ministers to remove juries, relatives and the public, from hearings.
The change was intended to stop sensitive information, such as details of phone-taps, becoming known.The change was intended to stop sensitive information, such as details of phone-taps, becoming known.
Opposition parties say it is the second government climbdown on the terror bill after 42-day detention was dropped. The Home Office said the plans had not been completely dropped and would be in a "forthcoming" coroners' reforms bill.
Opposition parties say it is the second government climb down on the Counter-Terrorism Bill - on Monday ministers dropped the controversial proposal to detain terrorist suspects for up to 42 days before charge.
De Menezes case
Ministers had argued that the inquest powers would be used selectively and that the majority of inquests would still have taken place in public.Ministers had argued that the inquest powers would be used selectively and that the majority of inquests would still have taken place in public.
But opposition parties and civil liberties campaigners said the reforms would set a dangerous precedent. But security minister Lord West has written to his counterparts on the opposition benches to say that the government will vote with them to remove the clause from the bill.
Pressure group Inquest welcomed the decision saying the measure had been put forward without consultation and would have reduced public scrutiny of the legal system. The plans would also have allowed the home secretary to replace coroners with their own appointees as well as preventing a jury from being called for "reasons of national security".
BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said the Home Office had not completely dropped the measure and planned to include it in a "forthcoming" bill on wider coroners reforms. Deaths in custody and those involving issues of national security raise important issues of state power and accountability and should be subject to particularly close public scrutiny Inquest campaign group
But opposition parties and civil liberties campaigners said the reforms would set a dangerous precedent and pointed out it was not restricted to terrorist cases.
Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights had warned it could affect cases like that of Jean Charles de Menezes, shot dead in London by police who mistook him for a terrorist or of British servicemen killed by US forces in Iraq.
The committee's Labour chairman Andrew Dismore had said inquests had to be seen to be "totally independent" and where state authorities were involved there had to be accountability.
7 July bombings
And some relatives of those who died in the 7 July bombings in London had said they were worried about the measures - they wanted to use the inquests to ask what the police and MI5 knew about the bombers before the attacks.
Pressure group Inquest welcomed the decision to drop the plans saying the measure had been put forward without consultation and would have reduced public scrutiny of the legal system.
A spokesman said: "Deaths in custody and those involving issues of national security raise important issues of state power and accountability and should be subject to particularly close public scrutiny in a free and democratic society."
Currently coroners must call an inquest into violent, unnatural or unexplained deaths in their districts.
They are held in public and a jury must be convened if the death occurred in controversial circumstances, particularly where it involves the police or other agents of the state.