Member

These clauses invert some of the most important principles in our justice system. They would give rise to the risk of a declaration of incompatibility by the European Court of Human Rights subject to Section 4 of the Human Rights Act. They proceed not from risk established in the individual case but from the status of a defendant. What a terrible principle to instil and embody in our law. They tell the courts that secrecy should be presumed and that the public should be kept away from the facts because of the role a defendant performs. It is not a modest adjustment that the Government seek; it is a change of principle and an unprecedented shift in English criminal law.