My Lords, I do not wish to repeat what my noble professional colleague said, so I will address a different, and straightforwardly political, difficulty that leads me strongly to support this amendment.
The population as a whole does not necessarily look in the same way at the detail of how a court has come to its conclusion. I cite the case of Private Clegg. When he was convicted, there was a clear view in Northern Ireland of what that meant; he was guilty of murder, and a life sentence was required. When subsequently it was decided that he should be released, it was not seen as appropriate mercy, given the circumstances; it was seen as the British establishment backing its own man in the security forces without due consideration of the sensitivities of nationalist people in Northern Ireland. That was not what it was and not how it should have been seen, but it was to some extent a consequence of the straitjacket in which the judge and the court were placed. Had the amendment in the name of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd of Berwick, been in place at the time and had that flexibility been available, it would have made it possible for the judge and the court to nuance the decision in such a way that a political problem, which proved to be of serious magnitude in Northern Ireland, would at least have been mollified to some extent.
We sometimes speak of political motivations as though they were always a bad thing, particularly in relation to issues of this kind, but here there are very good reasons for understanding that adverse and inappropriate political consequences can flow from such situations without the flexibility in the noble and learned Lord’s amendment. This is an opportunity for us to rectify this, if not for the past then at least for the future.
Coroners and Justice Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Lord Alderdice
(Liberal Democrat)
in the House of Lords on Monday, 26 October 2009.
It occurred during Debate on bills on Coroners and Justice Bill.
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Proceeding contribution
Reference
713 c1017 
Session
2008-09
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2024-04-21 13:22:38 +0100
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