Tag Archives: security policy

LibLink: Julian Huppert calls for greater public scrutiny of spying

By Andy Boddington | Sat 9th November 2013 - 9:02 am

Writing in the Guardian yesterday, Julian Huppert called for greater public scrutiny of national security. It was not just the work of the intelligence services that was scrutinised in parliament last Thursday, he says, but secretive intelligence and security committee which oversees the services.

This sort of public scrutiny is exactly what we need to restore confidence in our intelligence service, whose work keeps us safe. It does make you wonder why this should have been such a massive event: shouldn’t public scrutiny be at the heart of the way our intelligence and security service operates anyway?

Huppert says that he is not asking for details to be discussed, just principles.

The Independent View: why proposals for secret trials should be opposed

By Clare Algar | Fri 9th March 2012 - 8:35 pm

A “chilling threat to liberty and justice” an “excessive and dangerous” move which would “shake our constitution to its common law roots” tilting it “towards the closed courts…so favoured by despots” and miring individuals in “Kafkaesque cases.”

As the Liberal Democrat Spring conference approaches, the disturbing potential of the Government’s plans to extend secret justice across the country’s civil courts has hit the headlines, with the Mail, Times, Guardian, Independent and FT all united in condemnation.

That sense of alarm is also becoming apparent within the party. Tom Brake, chair of the backbench …

Posted in Conference, News and Op-eds | Also tagged ministry of justice | Leave a comment