Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 21 Mawrth 1979.
First, I suggest that the terms of reference given to Lord Shackleton placed him in a very restricted position in the investigations that he was to carry out. Paragraph 10 of the report states that he was given a brief which began:
Accepting the continuing need for legislation against terrorism ".
Since the introduction of the Act, there has been a continuing question mark hanging over the need for its existence, because many people believed, in that highly emotional time in 1974 in the wake of the Birmingham bombings, and many have continued to believe ever since, that the law as it was in the United Kingdom was sufficient to enable the forces of law and order to apprehend anyone engaged in terrorism.
I feel that this legislation, as some of my hon. Friends have noted, is taking on something of a permanent nature in this country. I look back on experiences in Northern Ireland. The special powers Act was introduced in 1922 and renewed annually for a number of years. Members of Parliament then got fed up listening to the same debate every year and decided to make it a permanent facet of legislation. In other words, they wanted to do away with prolonged debates. When that Act was taken off the statute book by this House, it was replaced by even more draconian special powers, namely, the emergency provisions Act applying to Northern Ireland followed by the Prevention of Terrorism Act applying to the whole of the United Kingdom. I believe that there are violent contradictions in the Prevention of Terrorism Act. I believe in the maxim of pure and simple justice. One person must not be seen to be getting favoured treatment under any section of the Act.
When the emergency provisions Act was being debated in Committee upstairs, the hon. Member for Antrim, North (Rev. Ian Paisley) and myself supported an amendment that, on the abolition of juries in Northern Ireland, three judges should be appointed to hear cases of those suspected of being involved in terrorism. I hope that the House will agree that there is a violent contradiction. Section 12 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act enables one to be arrested, detained and charged. If the person is arrested, charged and brought before the courts in London or any other part of Great Britain, he will appear before a court containing a jury. A jury will listen to all the evidence given by the police in connection with the charge that has been preferred.
If a person is arrested and charged in Northern Ireland under the same Act, he will be brought before what are known in Northern Ireland as the Diplock courts. There will be no jury. The person will probably be convicted on the grounds that he has made a confession. That shows the reality of a glaring injustice. I do not believe that such a situation should be accepted by this House. If there is an Act of Parliament on the statute book of the United Kingdom to enable the fight against terrorism to be carried on, everyone charged under that Act should be afforded the same treatment before the law.
I should like to refer to The Economist of 17 March, which rightly drew the attention of the public to this glaring contradiction. The article said:
An astonishing 80% of court convictions for terrorist offences stem from ' confessions '.
I have always contended that 80 per cent. is a very high figure for confessions to terrorist crime. In view of the controversy contained in the Bennett report, this House should examine all that is entailed
by accepting confessions in an open court. A confession obtained by whatever means in Northern Ireland in relation to terrorist offences must be subject to the closest scrutiny to ensure that the confession is, in reality, a confession to an alleged terrorist crime.