Bar Chairman challenges Snoopers Charter

A joint event between the National Union of Journalist and the Bar Council at the Houses of Parliament ended with the Chairman of the Council calling on MPs to protect fundamental rights to privacy.

The talks took place in April, just before the Investigatory Powers Bill Committee was set to debate amendments put forward by the Labour Party and the SNP that attempted to protect a client’s right to private legal consultation.

And the Chair of the event, Joanna Cherry QC MP, branded the timetable for the Bill to be passed in Parliament “a disgrace.”

This was backed up by the Chairman, Chantal-Aimée Doerries QC, who stated that in her opinion the whole Bill had been rushed through Parliament, and that this was not the first time that this had happened with a surveillance law that had crucial constitutional rights at its core.

She stated: “One of the essential rights in a democracy is that of a citizen to consult with a lawyer. Clients who cannot be sure that conversations with their legal representative are held in confidence often fail to communicate information which is vital to their case [which] compromise a defendant’s right to a fair hearing.”

“Where privileged material is passed, deliberately or otherwise, to Government lawyers who are defending a claim against the state or prosecuting an individual, the integrity of a trial is lost and the right of an individual to fair process is wholly undermined.”

“Detailed and focused scrutiny of the Bill is now required. The Bar Council, the Law Society and NUJ are working together to protect some of the most fundamental constitutional rights enjoyed by the citizens of this country.”

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