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Queen’s Speech

My Lords, it is a great privilege to contribute to the debate on the gracious Speech. I should like to join others in congratulating the new Members to our House, the right reverend Prelate and the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan, on their exemplary maiden speeches. This House will undoubtedly be enriched by their presence and I welcome them both. I know that my friends on the Front Bench often wait nervously when I get to my feet. Indeed, both of them separately have told me that they were bracing themselves for blows. I think they called it friendly fire. Their Lordships will be happy to hear that I am not going to depart from tradition. But let me start with praise. Like everyone, I want to congratulate the Government on the introduction of the Bribery Bill. The United Kingdom was criticised for what was seen as a sort of tolerance of this kind of corruption. It may have been somewhat unfair, but certainly it was seen that modernisation was needed, which this Bill meets. In particular, I congratulate the Government on their speed of response and on listening to others about ways in which it could be improved. That was an excellent way of working. It will be crucial to cleaning up commercial malpractice. I have one concern which goes back to the Attorney-General’s ability to stop a prosecution. After the scandalous abandonment of the BAE Systems case, there remains that whole question of whether national security should be used to trump due process when it comes to corruption. There seems to be some opaqueness at the moment as to whether the Government are still going to take that position. It will be interesting to hear their view because it really disappointed other nations as well as lawyers internationally that this excuse was given in the BAE Systems case. I turn now to the Crime and Security Bill. One of the themes of the Government over the past 12 years, which has been a source of great disappointment to me and others in the legal profession, has been the development of parallel legal processes. Instead of going for traditional due process and taking people before the courts, there has been a way of avoiding that by introducing other kinds of process which do not have the protections and safeguards that are vital to a decent system within a democracy. I put into that category the whole range from ASBOs onwards and we will introduce more in this Bill. Control orders fall into that too. It involves the lowering of standards of proof and a way of circumventing the system which we have developed over generations and hundreds of years. I regret that greatly. I say to the Government that we should be putting a full stop to this way of practising. I particularly want to draw attention to the Government’s response to the Marper judgment on DNA, which came from the European Court in Strasbourg. The changes in the Bill are far too grudging. A six-year retention period for innocent people is still too long and should be amended. I hope that the Government will do that before this Bill comes before the House. In 2006, the Scottish Parliament rejected proposals to bring Scotland into line with England and Wales, and I think that they reached a sensible position; that is, the destruction of DNA of those acquitted of a crime. A limited exception was made to those serious crimes which involve physical or sexual violence where the maximum period of retention is five years. There is also a right of appeal in relation to that. We should be looking at ways other than the one suggested at the moment. I also have serious problems with the Digital Economy Bill in that it proposes cutting off the internet access of alleged file sharers. Internet access in a modern world is a utility like the telephone and electricity. Cutting off alleged file sharers without a court process is a breach of the fair trial/due process provisions of the Human Rights Act and Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and a disproportionate interference with the right to receive and impart information under Article 10. On previous occasions, I have—I did it with DNA 10 years ago—advised the Government that they would end up before the European Court if they did not get this right. I feel that this is another of those areas where I ask the Government to look again. If illegal file sharing is a problem, the proper course is to prosecute alleged offenders, rather than rely on an administrative penalty. We are seeing far too much of this wily avoidance of proper procedures, to the grave disadvantage of citizens. I now turn to some of the comment made by my noble friend Lord Morgan. This is one of the ways in which a Government have on the one hand on occasion given power away, yet on the other hand have drawn more power to themselves. In taking on these new systems of procedure, you end up giving more power to the state, which should be resisted. Before turning to constitutional reform, I want to deal with the assault on legal aid. The only other person to mention it was the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford. I do not know whether anyone understands just how serious the position now is with regard to legal aid funding. A crisis is taking place and the cost in years to come will be enormous in terms of what it will do to our justice system. Access to justice is essential in a democracy, but it seemed like an easy way of making cuts—who cares about criminals and lawyers? However, it is not about lawyers, but about the quality of what is on offer and outcomes in terms of the suffering for families and individuals if they are not well represented. The evisceration of criminal and family legal aid will be a great cost to our society. It affects the quality of a system that we have long been proud of, but I am afraid that we will see a real deterioration in years to come if we continue along this road. On constitutional reform, I want to say only that some of it is sensible, proper and in the interests of good governance. I am glad to see the removal of the role of the Prime Minister in the appointment of members of the Supreme Court. I was always leery about the retention of that power. I am also happy to see new provisions for the regulation of this House. I am glad to see the changes proposed to the ratification of treaties. How did we get into a situation where extradition to the United States became a treaty under which we hand over to the United States but it does not hand over to us? It was another of those craven acts of obeisance to the Bush Administration and it was unforgivable. What I feel real regret for is that with all this on our plates, we might not end up doing the thing we ought to be doing, which is clawing back the right to demonstrate in Parliament Square. That was a disgraceful change in the law introduced by the Government and it led to the arrest of Maya Evans, who as we all remember was the woman who read out the list of the war dead. We are going to change that law and I am glad that the prodigals are returning to the fold. There is nothing we like more in this House than a sinner who repents, and I hope that we make time to get it through. Finally, I am really disappointed that after 12 years, we have missed a great opportunity here at the end. What happened to the idea that Labour is best when it is bold? The Westminster system has totally lost the confidence of the general public. As others have said, our democracy is in crisis. What people want is proactive change. In the autumn, the Prime Minister promised to give voters the right to recall a corrupt Member of Parliament. He committed himself to a referendum on reform of the voting system. What happened? We have not a word in the gracious Speech in response to the expenses crisis. What the people want after the general election is a reforming Parliament, one that will restore trust in our democracy. There is a yearning for that, and I am afraid that what is on offer at the moment is not going to satisfy the real feelings of unhappiness among the general public. I urge the Government to think again about some kind of democratic reform, particularly of the electoral system.