Chief justice: Parliament must never be gagged
By politics.co.uk staff
Media outlets should never be prevented from reporting the goings-on in parliament by gagging orders, the lord chief justice of England and Wales has said.
The comments come after the Guardian succeeded in overturning an injunction against coverage of a parliamentary question last week and before a debate today in parliament on super-injunctions and libel in Britain.
The attempt by Carter Ruck to stop the Guardian’s coverage caused outrage last week, but a dedicated campaign by Twitter users saw the injunction lifted by the afternoon.
But the move caused enough concern in parliament to trigger today’s debate, led by Dr Evan Harris, a Lib Dem MP.
It also led to anger at the highest levels, with the prime minister asking justice secretary Jack Straw to review the law.
MPs’ right to speak with absolute privilege in parliament had been hard fought for, Lord Judge said, on the anniversary of his first year as chief justice.
“It is a precious heritage that in my view should be vigorously defended and maintained by this generation,” he said.
He would need “some powerful persuasion indeed – and that is close to saying that I cannot envisage it – that it would be constitutionally possible or proper for a court to make an order that might prevent or hinder or limit discussion of any topic in parliament, or any judge would intentionally frame an injunction that would have that effect”, he added.
“We do not use the words ‘fundamental principle’ very frequently, but this is a fundamental principle.”
Today’s debate will also focus on libel law, which has become so extreme in Britain that other states, including parts of America, are no longer recognising British judgements.
“We need to look closely at why it is called the libel capital of the world and if it is, we have to try to persuade parliament to change the law.”
