The Bar Council has taken issue with government proposals to create a UK Privacy and Civil Liberties Board to scrutinise terror legislation.
The proposal for the Board is set out in the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill—a Home Office consultation on the proposal closed last week.
However, Alistair MacDonald QC, Bar chair, points out that there already exists an independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, David Anderson QC, whose job is to scrutinise terror laws in light of civil liberties and privacy concerns. He says removing restrictions on Anderson so he could review all relevant terror laws would be cheaper than creating a new Board, which would cost an estimated £800,000 to run per year.says
MacDonald argues that setting up an additional board would “generate confusion and undermine rather than reinforce public understanding of the process”.
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