To ask Her Majesty's Government what principles they apply in deciding whether to introduce retrospective legislation.

The Government recognise that retrospective legislation has the potential to cause unfairness and to create problems regarding legal certainty. The Government therefore only legislate retrospectively when they consider that the general public interest in the law not being changed retrospectively is outweighed by a competing public interest. The Government will not legislate retrospectively if the consider that to do so would be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.