End injunction bid secrecy, judges say

Sir Fred Goodwin has been revealed in Parliament to have obtained an injunction

A report by a chief judge on super injunctions is likely to recommend press be allowed into court hearings.

The Master of the Roll, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, is expected to address concerns over the secrecy of the gagging orders.

It comes after the High Court partially lifted an injunction obtained by the former head of Royal Bank of Scotland, Sir Fred Goodwin.

Downing Street said the government would consider the report carefully.

Lord Neuberger, the most senior civil judge in England and Wales, has chaired a year-long inquiry by a committee of judges and lawyers.

The report – to be published later – comes at a time of unprecedented public interest and debate about the use of injunctions.

On Thursday, Lib Dem peer Lord Stoneham used parliamentary privilege to tell the Lords that Sir Fred Goodwin had obtained an injunction to prevent reporting of a relationship he is alleged to have had with a senior colleague.

Lord Stoneham’s intervention caused the anonymity element of his injunction to be lifted at the High Court.

Sir Fred was widely criticised for his role in the near-collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

In March, Lib Dem MP John Hemming was the first to make Sir Fred’s injunction public by using parliamentary privilege to raise the matter in the Commons.

Mr Hemming said the public had a right to know if any of Sir Fred’s actions affected the bank’s performance before it had to be rescued by the government.

He told the BBC: “If you take the RBS code of conduct for example, if someone is a regular golf partner with someone else who also works for the bank then that is considered to be something that is relevant and should be declared because it creates a conflict of interest.

“And it is the culture of such organisations that is important in considering why things happen with a view to trying to stop them in the future.”

Lord Neuberger’s report is expected to address some concerns over secrecy although reporting restrictions would still protect people’s anonymity.

But it would allow the press to know what it was they were not allowed to report.

BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman says the report could not come at a more heated time, with injunctions flouted on Twitter and a campaign against a separate privacy law being conducted by judges.

The issue of privacy injunctions just will not go away, our correspondent says.

Last month, Prime Minister David Cameron said Parliament not judges should decide on the balance between press freedom and privacy.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “This whole issue is something we need to think about.

“We are going to look at this report and consider it very carefully. We have always said we would start by considering that report carefully.”

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