Government faces revolt over "secret justice" expansion Evidence heard in secret cannot be challenged. Inconsistencies cannot be spotted. Witnesses cannot be cross-examined. Last night it was reported that an influential committee of MPs and peers - which will question Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke on the issue next week - is preparing to issue a "highly critical" report of the draft legislation. Mr Clarke is anxious to prevent a recurrence of the multi-million-pound compensation payments to 15 former inmates at Guantánamo Bay in 2011 and will defend the Government's Green Paper proposals when he faces Parliament's joint committee on human rights next week. Senior Liberal Democrat Baroness Ludford, the party's European justice and human rights spokesman, told the Daily Mail: "This appears to be a recipe for coverups of wrongdoing. Of course there may be occasions when there is a need to protect sources and national security, but the scope of this appears to be huge. It is a potentially massive breach of the right to fairness in civil cases and inquests. I am bemused that Ken Clarke has agreed to front this operation, which could do serious damage to Britain's reputation around the world. Writing in the Daily Mail, Mr Davis referred to the deaths of teenager Stephen Lawrence in 1993 and Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes following the 7/7 bombings as examples of inquests that may fall under the new legislation. He said: "Just think of the consequences if this secret justice were extended to, say, police inquests. In the last 15 years these inquests have proved hugely important. The 1999 Macpherson inquiry into Stephen Lawrence's death revealed institutional racism within the Metropolitan Police. The 2005 de Menezes inquiry exposed the serious communication failures which led to police shooting an innocent Brazilian seven times in the head after mistaking him for a suicide bomber.