Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, has indicated that a select committee of MPs will examine the developing law of privacy, apparently in response to the recent criticism of the current state of the law by Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre.
Mr Straw told the Joint Committee on Human Rights:
“What my intention is, which is now actually happening, is that there should be a select committee of MPs to look at the law on privacy. Legal systems in common law countries above all are living systems. Sometimes they require a nudge one way or the other by statute. There is nothing wrong with that… [We] are keen to ensure that the legacy of the Human Rights Act continues and thrives need to be alive to criticism and to respond to that criticism… I do not always agree with Mr Dacre, still less he with me famously, but… It is a serious newspaper and it happens to represent a large body of public opinion in this country. Whether you agree with it or not is neither here nor there. It would be ridiculous not to take note of that and then try to seek to respond to it."
The comments came in the midst of Mr Straw’s questioning by the Joint Committee on Human Rights last week in relation to adverse comments he made about the Human Rights Act last November.
