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Secret Courts: Campaigners Vow To Fight On

Secret Courts: Campaigners Vow To Fight On

Civil liberties campaigners have vowed to keep fighting Government plans for secret court hearings in sensitive national security cases.

MPs rejected stronger safeguards when the controversial Justice and Security Bill returned to the House of Commons.

Ministers comfortably saw off a bid to reinstate amendments backed in the Lords, despite some Tory and Lib Dem MPs siding with Labour.

Several prominent Labour ex-ministers defied their own party's position to back the Government in Monday night's vote.

An attempt to make judges balance national security against the public interest of open justice was defeated by 71 votes, in what opponents called a "dark night for British justice".

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty , said: "History teaches that politicians abandon ancient legal principles at their peril. Today's cover-up is tomorrow's scandal.

"The opposition to turning British courts into secret commissions continues. Once again, we look to the House of Lords to defeat Secret Courts and defend the Rule of Law."

Minister Ken Clarke insisted the measures were needed to allow sensitive intelligence material to be introduced in a small number of civil cases where the state is being sued.

He warned that the alternative was the Government not being able to defend itself and facing payouts of millions of pounds in compensation.

Mr Clarke told MPs that the amendments, which were reversed by the Government at the committee stage, would have made the legislation impossible to operate.

Critics complain that the new law will undermine the principle of open justice and allow the security services to cover up involvement in abuse and torture.

Seven Liberal Democrats, including party president Tim Farron and deputy leader Simon Hughes, rebelled during the vote.

The issue is now set to provoke a new confrontation between Nick Clegg and his party activists at the Lib Dem spring conference this weekend.

Last year, activists voted overwhelmingly to oppose the legislation.

Shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan said he accepted the difficulty of reconciling the issues of justice and security but claimed the new laws were disproportionate.

However, Labour former foreign secretary Jack Straw backed the legislation, telling MPs it was about "how you protect the sources of information on which intelligence depends".

A Conservative Party source said: "By opposing this Bill, Labour are prepared to accept the possibility of millions of pounds going without challenge to individuals who could be terrorists.

"This raises the appalling prospect of taxpayers' cash funding jihadist groups."

Clare Algar, executive director of Reprieve , called on MPs to now vote against the Bill in its entirety "to defend British justice".

"Should that fail, the House of Lords will be the only thing standing in the way of plans which would mean the end of the right to a fair trial in a vast range of civil cases," she said.