Reports of former reviewers

The first independent post-legislative reviews of anti-terrorism legislation were conducted by Lord Shackleton (1978), Earl Jellicoe (1983) and Sir George Baker (1984).

Review was then placed on an annual footing. Yearly reviews were conducted by Sir Cyril Phillips (of 1984 and 1985), Viscount Colville QC (of 1986-1992), John Rowe Q.C. (of 1993-2000) and Lord Carlile Q.C. (of 2001-2009).

There have also been a number of independent reports of a forward-looking nature, not accessible through this site, notably the Diplock Report of 1972 (Cmnd 5185), the Gardiner Report of 1975 (Cmnd 5847) and the Lloyd Report of 1996 (Cm 3420).

A very brief commentary on these reports is in my working paper “Review of Terrorism Laws: Searchlight or Veil?”, written in February 2014 and available from the “speeches and articles” section of this website.

Reports from 1978 to 2001

The reports of independent reviewers from Lord Shackleton (1978) to John Rowe Q.C. (2001), together with Government responses, can be found on this external site.  The reports are in UK copyright libraries but most of them became available on the internet only in 2014, thanks to Mitch Hanley and a grant from Harvard University.

Lord Carlile’s control order reports, 2006-2011

Lord Carlile published six reports into the operation of the control order system provided for by the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005.  They informed the annual parliamentary renewal debates that were required under that Act.  The PTA 2005 was repealed and replaced by the Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Act 2011, which is also subject to annual review. Read more…