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Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Bill

It is scarcely surprising that we have strayed from the grouping. It is necessary to grasp at straws, such as the special counsel, in order to begin to make this legislation look fair to the defence. I do not want to sound churlish because my Amendment No. 2 effectively is covered by government Amendment No. 2A, although I would have preferred the words, "““unless the court directs otherwise””," to have been omitted. It must be the very first principle of this legislation. I do not want to go back to our debate on Second Reading; the noble and learned Baroness knows well my views on the Bill as a whole, which are that we should not be doing it in the first place. But as we are, the first principle should be that the judge is in possession of all the facts. For my part, I cannot imagine a situation in which a judge worth his salt would say, ““I don’t want to know””, although I suppose it is possible that such a thing might happen at a theoretical point in the future. I therefore welcome the government amendments and beg leave to withdraw Amendment No. 2. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.