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Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Bill

My Lords, I do not know whether the noble Lord is aware that the first problem about the European Court of Human Rights dealing with this is that most of the judges come from inquisitorial rather than accusatorial systems, yet the convention requires an accusatorial system. The second problem is that they do not regard it as within their function to dictate the detailed rules of procedure and evidence. The overriding requirement, as the Law Lords made clear and as the Bill and the Human Rights Act make clear, is to ensure a fair trial. If that is the overriding requirement, I do not think that the Liberal Democrats, the Government or the Conservative Party can be criticised for not welcoming the Bill.