Warning: Lord Neuberger (Picture: PA)

Britain’s most senior judge has fired a warning shot to politicians after they backed plans for secret courts.

Lord Neuberger said ‘anyone interested in justice and democracy’ would be ‘very troubled’ by the prospect of cases being heard behind closed doors.

The president of the Supreme Court said he understood that the government might want cases involving national security issues to be heard in private, but said it was up to judges to ‘minimise’ the use of secret courts.

Under so-called closed material procedures, if a judge grants it, evidence in a case will be heard behind closed doors and claimants would not be allowed to hear the secret evidence against them.




Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Lord Neuberger said courts should be closed to the public only in certain circumstances. ‘You should not be making any privacy or confidentiality orders unless you as the judge are satisfied that there is no alternative, that justice could not be done without confidentiality or privacy orders,’ he said.

MPs have backed proposals for secret courts under the Justice and Security Bill. Providing the entire Bill is formally passed later this week, it will mean some civil cases could be heard in secret for the first time to protect sensitive information.

Ministers say the power is needed to allow security and intelligence agencies to defend themselves against civil claims without airing details of national security in public.