Secret courts bill: Lib Dems vote with Labour in bid to impose safeguards

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2013/feb/05/secret-courts-bill-lib-dems-labour

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Liberal Democrats have voted with Labour during attempts to impose further judicial safeguards on the government's controversial justice and security bill which will expand secret courts.

In a series of close votes at committee stage, Conservatives – supported by the Democratic Unionist party MP Ian Paisley Jr – pushed through amendments which critics say reverse reforms made in the Lords.

Labour is now considering reintroducing the Lords' reforms – giving judges greater freedom to decide whether to order a secret hearing – when the bill returns to the floor of the House of Commons at report stage, in the hope of splitting the coalition parties again.

Andy Slaughter, Labour's justice spokesman, told the Guardian: "We are considering retabling the [original] Lords' amendments which the Liberal Democrats voted for at committee [stage of the bill]." The committee votes were won by 10 votes to nine.

The second section introduces closed material procedures (CMPs), also known as secret hearings, into the main civil courts. They enable security-sensitive information to be presented to a judge but withheld in detail from claimants in the case.

Closed material procedures are currently used in employment tribunals, special immigration appeals commission hearings and the investigatory powers tribunal, which handles complaints about the intelligence services.

Clare Algar, executive director of the human rights organisation Reprieve, said: "This demonstrates that ministers are simply not prepared to listen to reason on the secret courts bill. They have undermined even the minor changes made by the House of Lords – all the while claiming that they are doing the opposite.

"The problem is that secret courts are simply not compatible with our centuries-old traditions of equal justice. The only way forward is for MPs to reject proposals for secret courts altogether."