Core principles underpinning the rule of law are threatened in the UK as Parliament debates the Justice and Security Bill (progressing through the House of Lords). The government proposals extend the reach of closed material proceedings (CMP) – introduced in 1997 in the immigration arena – to all civil trials which raise concerns for the security services.
The Prime Minister told the House of Commons, there were serious problems about the way that the courts deal with intelligence information, apparently prompted by the cases of Al Rawi & Others v. the Security Services and R (Binyam Mohamed) v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. CMP enables the Government to present evidence to a judge alone in the absence of the parties. The interests of excluded parties are represented by Special Advocates (lawyers palatable to the security services) who are appointed by the Government, and in Kafkaesque fashion, such Special Advocates are unable to communicate with or take instructions from the parties that they are supposed to represent – a brave new world indeed.