I am grateful for the range of contributions that have been made today, including those made by informed members of the Intelligence and Security Committee, the Joint Committee on Human Rights, and the Justice Committee. This is an important Bill, and it is right for it to be the subject of such vigorous and thorough debate in the House.
As is plain from the quality of the debate since the introduction of the Bill, these are challenging matters, and I respect the concern that we should get the balance
between justice and security right. The changes in the global landscape present us with a number of complex problems that we cannot ignore. The concepts of justice, the rule of law and human rights are fundamental principles of which our nation has a rich heritage.
Having carefully examined our options, we believe that the Bill will enable us to tackle the problems that we face both justly and securely, but I accept what has been said by a number of Members today about some of those difficulties. The Chairman of the ISC, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Kensington (Sir Malcolm Rifkind), said that the Bill was not perfect, but was a great deal better than what we have at present. My hon. Friend the Member for South Swindon (Mr Buckland) said that we must start with the world in which we find ourselves, rather than the world that we might like it to be.
Those themes were underlined during the debate, along with other challenges that were mentioned by Members. I was struck by what was said by my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Nicola Blackwood) about the changes that had been made in the Lords, and the impact that they had had on her impressions of the Bill. I was also struck by the comments made by my hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe (Steve Baker) about the need to ensure that liberty and justice were appropriately balanced. I can say to him very clearly that this is not about expediency but about how we can ensure that the difficult challenges of providing safety and security while reflecting justice are properly reflected in the changes made to the Bill. The same applies to the comments made by my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh West (Mike Crockart) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes).
I recognise that some Members in the Chamber this afternoon are fundamentally opposed to the Bill in principle and do not accept that the provisions are balanced in the way that I have characterised them. The speeches from the hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn), my hon. Friend the Member for Dewsbury (Simon Reevell) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis) underlined some of those themes. The situation we are in at the moment is not right, however, and does not meet many of the objections they proffered against the Bill. We believe that it will make an important improvement to the situation by ensuring that difficult cases, which cannot be heard at all because the evidence does not come within the ambit of the court or the public view, are put before a judge so that justice can be done.
The points made by the right hon. Member for Salford and Eccles (Hazel Blears), which were reflected in the speeches made by my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Stephen Phillips) and the right hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr Straw), underlined that if there is no adjudication, that is unsatisfactory for justice, particularly in the context of the cases that are settled in which there is a defence for the Government but the moneys have to be paid out. We judge the reputational risk that poses for the Government and, as my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich (Ben Gummer) highlighted, for those individuals concerned in those particular cases to be significant.
We have seen significant changes over the past few decades in the evolving threat from terrorism. The UK faces a global terrorist threat from beyond our shores and our intelligence services are heavily committed to protecting our national security by tackling those threats. We are also now in a more litigious society and the combined effect has seen an increase in numbers of civil claims against the Government. The problem is that in these cases, the material the Government need to defend their case is often classified and cannot be disclosed to the court without compromising operations or risking the sensitive sources and techniques on which we rely to keep the people of this country safe. As the former Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, said in Committee in the Lords,
“PII has the very unfortunate effect that you cannot rely on the material that is in issue, whereas both the claimant and the Government may want to rely on that material.”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 11 July 2012; Vol. 738, c. 1189.]
The result is that at present the courts cannot rule in those cases, so the Government might be left with no option but to settle. That is why the Bill seeks to introduce the use of closed material procedures in a small number of cases that hinge on sensitive national security material.
Some hon. Members have suggested that the public interest immunity system is perfectly adequate to deal with national security matters. Let me be clear that the Government are not trying to abolish PII through this Bill: it will continue to exist and be used in certain contexts. Without the possibility of a closed material procedure, however, a very small number of cases that hinge on national security-sensitive information will not be able to reach a conclusion. When the very material that would determine a case would be excluded from PII, the case cannot be fairly concluded without a forum for it to be heard in. If it is central to the Government’s case, the case cannot proceed and the Government may have to settle. Vast sums of taxpayers’ money could be paid out as a result.
Some have argued that PII leads to more information being disclosed than would be the case under a CMP, but we do not accept that that is the case. The court can order the disclosure of material, notwithstanding the damage that would be caused to national security. But the Government then have the choice not to rely on that material, to make admissions or to seek to settle the case entirely. That means that such a damaging disclosure is never made. So, in practice, we believe that no evidence that can currently be heard in open court will be put into closed proceedings in future. Only evidence that would otherwise not see the light of day will be heard by a judge in closed proceedings.
There have been concerns that the claimant will be kept in the dark about accusations against them, though I hope it has been made clear through a number of contributions to today’s debate that that is not the case. It does no harm to restate that the Bill will introduce closed material procedures only in civil cases, not criminal cases, where the Government are the defendant, and claimants will have full knowledge of the allegations that they are making.
CMPs will allow the Government to defend their case and the claimant will have a special advocate working on their behalf, fighting their case. Moreover, it could well be that information that could be considered in a
closed material procedure is of benefit to the claimant, and having the case heard using a closed material procedure does not guarantee that the Government will win.