“Conservative cabinet minister Ken Clarke has been accused of misleading parliament as confusion mounts over the government’s plans to introduce secret courts ahead of this week’s crucial vote in the House of Lords.”
The Guardian, 24th March 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Fears that bloggers and small-scale news websites will be dragged into the new proposed system of press regulation, so facing crippling costs, appeared to be lifting on Friday when Labour and the Liberal Democrats agreed to table last-minute amendments in the Lords to make it clear they will be excluded.”
The Guardian, 22nd March 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Peers intend to change justice and security bill as it shuttles between houses of parliament, government is warned.”
The Guardian, 21st March 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The Commission delivered its Report – A UK Bill of Rights? – The Choice Before Us – to the Government in December 2012. It is an odd document, dominated by the lack of agreement in the Commission as to the role that any human rights’ instrument in Britain should play. That was unsurprising since at the inception of the Commission the Coalition partners appeared to want it to play two different roles – defending or attacking the HRA. From the very outset the Commission and the idea of a Bill of Rights (BoR) was relied upon by Cameron and other senior Conservatives to allay anger in the Conservative party, and among some voters, directed at decisions made under the Human Rights Act. David Cameron announced the Commission’s inception in March 2011 at Prime Ministers’ Questions as a reaction to criticism of the decision of the Supreme Court that sex offenders should be able to challenge their inclusion on the Sex Offenders’ register. He indicated that a BoR would address the concerns expressed (17.3.11; see the Telegraph in relation to R and Thompson v SSHD). The idea that a BoR could right the wrongs of the HRA – would provide a panacea for the HRA’s ills – had apparently been embedded in the Conservative party psyche for some years: David Cameron in a speech to the Centre for Policy Studies in 2006 Balancing freedom and security – A modern British Bill of Rights said that the HRA should be repealed: ‘….The Human Rights Act has a damaging impact on our ability to protect our society against terrorism…. . I am today committing my Party to work towards the production of a Modern Bill of Rights’. In contrast, the 2010 Liberal Democrat election manifesto promised to ‘Ensure that everyone has the same protections under the law by protecting the Human Rights Act.'”
UK Constitution Law Group, 21st March 2013
Source: www.ukconstitutionllaw.org
“Bloggers could face high fines for libel under the new Leveson deal with exemplary damages imposed if they don’t sign up to the new regulator, it was claimed on Tuesday.”
The Guardian, 19th March 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“After much political manoeuvring over the weekend, a deal has been struck on the Royal Charter to implement Leveson. A key point is that it will prevent the Charter being unilaterally changed by future governments.”
UK Constitutional Law Group, 18th March 2013
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org
“The Supreme Court could use secret evidence in a ruling for the first time in a landmark case this week despite previously banning such material from civil courts.”
Daily Telegraph, 18th March 2013
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“The prominent international lawyer Prof Philippe Sands QC has resigned from the Liberal Democrats in protest at the leadership’s support for expanding the use of secret courts.”
The Guardian, 11th March 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Related link: I’m leaving the Liberal Democrats too
“The former supreme court judge, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, has established a six-strong ‘foundation group’ to kick start the establishment of a new press regulator, the chairman of the Press Complaints Commission has announced. Lord Hunt, who was tasked with transitioning the PCC into the new regulator, said on Thursday that he is hoping the move will help extricate the process of setting up a new watchdog out of the ‘quagmire’ it has been stuck in since the Leveson report was published in November.”
The Guardian, 7th March 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Part 3 of the Children and Families Bill 2013 (‘the Bill’) was intended to deliver ‘the biggest
reforms for 30 years’ for children and young people with SEN.”
Full story (PDF)
11 KBW, 5th March 2013
Source: www.11kbw.com
“Anna Heenan, solicitor and David Salter, Joint Head of Family Law at Mills & Reeve LLP analyse February’s financial remedies and divorce news and cases.”
Family Law Week, 5th March 2013
Source: www.familylawweek.com
“The legislative framework governing the approach to children with special educational needs (‘SEN’) in England has remained broadly the same since the coming into force of Part 4 of the Education Act 1996 on 1st November 1996. However, on 18 March 2012, the Department for Education published a Green Paper, Support and Aspiration: A New Approach to Special Educational Needs and Disability, signalling an intention to review that framework. The intention to legislate in this field was reiterated in the Queen’s Speech on 9th May 2012, which was swiftly followed by the follow-up to the Green Paper, Progress and Next Steps, on 15 May 2012.”
Full story (PDF)
11 KBW, 5th March 2013
Source: www.11kbw.com
“As Parliament prepares to vote on the Justice and Security Bill today, Terry McGuinness outlines why Closed Material Procedures (CMP) are an affront to open justice.”
Garden Court Chambers Blog, 4th March 2013
Source: www.gclaw.wordpress.com
“The House of Lords voted on Monday to outlaw discrimination against people on the basis of their caste.”
The Guardian, 5th March 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The government pushed through its plans for secret court hearings on Monday night, defeating amendments tabled by the Labour frontbench with significant majorities.”
The Guardian, 4th March 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“MPs will vote on Monday on the final form of the government’s justice and security bill, which radically expands the use of so-called secret courts.”
The Guardian, 3rd March 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“An alliance of more than 100 human rights groups, legal experts and free press campaigners has called on MPs to vote against government plans for ‘secret courts’ – branding them “a charter for cover-ups” that will seriously undermine the principles of British justice.”
The Guardian, 3rd March 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The former head of the judiciary, Lord Woolf, has thrown his support behind plans to allow more civil courts to examine secret intelligence in private.”
BBC News, 4th March 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“A Libyan politician who is suing the former foreign secretary Jack Straw and the British government for damages after being kidnapped and taken to one of Gaddafi’s jails has offered to settle the case for just £3, providing he also receives an unreserved apology.”
The Guardian, 4th March 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Controversial government plans to introduce a new generation of secret courts have been dealt a major blow after hundreds of lawyers attacked them as ‘contrary to the rule of law’.”
The Guardian, 28th February 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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