Coroners and Justice Bill

I, too, oppose the amendment. I must declare that for 10 years I was an adviser to the Government, including on issues such as these under discussion this evening. All acknowledge that there is a problem concerning the practical use of intercept evidence. This therefore involves a matter of judgment. For my part, in the limited number of cases involved, we should err on the side of the security of the state while providing safeguards. We should accept the government compromise proposals for a public inquiry, which would achieve Article 2 compliance and at the same time completely safeguard sensitive intercept evidence.