and Charlie Molone. Recommended by Christy Walsh.
The MoJ has been accused of dragging its feet over implementing the Ouseley recommendations on closed material procedure. And its belated response has done little to pacify alienated special advocates.
It is doubly ironic that the government dropped its response to concerns about the UK’s controversial ‘secret justice’ system into a political vacuum. ‘Least said the better’ would seem to have been Whitehall’s default mode here. Remarkably (or perhaps not so remarkably), six years have elapsed since a statutory review was first scheduled to begin.
The Ministry of Justice published its verdict on the 2022 Ouseley report on closed material procedure (CMP) on 29 May, the day before parliament dissolved. This came after a group of 25 practising special advocates, including 16 KCs, told the attorney general in April that they would not accept any new appointments while current defects with the system remain unaddressed. Special advocates are the security-cleared lawyers appointed to represent the interests of those excluded from viewing material rated national security-sensitive.
The MoJ has been accused of dragging its feet over implementing the Ouseley recommendations on closed material procedure. And its belated response has done little to pacify alienated special advocates.
It is doubly ironic that the government dropped its response to concerns about the UK’s controversial ‘secret justice’ system into a political vacuum. ‘Least said the better’ would seem to have been Whitehall’s default mode here. Remarkably (or perhaps not so remarkably), six years have elapsed since a statutory review was first scheduled to begin.
The Ministry of Justice published its verdict on the 2022 Ouseley report on closed material procedure (CMP) on 29 May, the day before parliament dissolved. This came after a group of 25 practising special advocates, including 16 KCs, told the attorney general in April that they would not accept any new appointments while current defects with the system remain unaddressed. Special advocates are the security-cleared lawyers appointed to represent the interests of those excluded from viewing material rated national security-sensitive.
Under the Justice and Security Act 2013, a review of the CMP was required to commence ‘as soon as practicable’ after June 2018.
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