§ Lord Molloyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they propose to take steps to debar persons with political views from serving on juries.
§ The Lord ChancellorJurors are normally selected at random from the panel. Almost every adult in this country has political views of one sort or another, and none of these in themselves debar or excuse those holding them from jury service. The Government have no intention of altering this general rule. If in a particular case facts are known to prosecuting counsel which lead him to doubt the impartiality of a particular juror, he may ask that juror to stand by for the Crown. If this leaves an insufficient number of persons to constitute the jury on the panel that has been summoned, counsel may then challenge the juror for cause. Whether that challenge is well or ill founded will be decided by the trial judge.
The fact that a prospective juror has political views or political affiliations is not therefore in itself a ground for asking him to stand by or for challenging him for cause. In cases with political or terrorist implications, however, there may be occasions when, in the words of the Guidelines on Jury Checks, published in August 1980 by the Attorney General, a prospective juror's
political beliefs are so biased as to go beyond normally reflecting the broad spectrum of views and interests in the community so as to reflect the extreme views of sectarian interests or pressure groups to a degree which might interfere with his fair assessment of the facts of a particular case or lead him to exert improper pressure on his fellow jurors".802WA The checks authorised by the guidelines are limited in scope and would not be expected to disclose political beliefs or affiliations not of this extreme character. Her Majesty's Government do not propose to take steps to alter these arrangements.