Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Bill

The noble and learned Lord has very fairly said that he will reflect on all that has been put to him, and he said also earlier that he is prepared to discuss, offline as it were, with noble Lords any points that arise in Grand Committee which remain causes of anxiety. I think this is par excellence one of those issues. It is difficult for us to resolve it across the Floor of the Committee, particularly in the absence of my noble friend Lord Lester who drafted the amendment. I am sure that when he reads our discussion, he will have some strong opinions on the matter and would probably want me to point out before we leave it that although, as the noble and learned Lord has said, the Select Committee welcomed the narrowing of the scope of the clause, it was by no means satisfied that that met the whole of its case. There are issues that it would be useful for us to leave for the moment, but to take up with the noble and learned Lord in his offer to continue our deliberations outside the Chamber before we reach the further stages of the Bill. Clause 7 agreed to. Clause 8 [Supplementary]: [Amendment No. 17 not moved.] Clause 8 agreed to. Schedule 1 agreed to. Clause 9 agreed to. Schedule 2 agreed to. [Amendment No. 18 not moved.] Clauses 10 and 11 agreed to. Clause 12 [Abolition of peremptory challenge in criminal cases]: