Starmer questioned on budget cuts and undercover police

Tuesday, 18 January 2011 12:25 PM

By Ian Dunt

The director of public prosecutions has been questioned on cost-cutting at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) by a committee of MPs.

MPs on the justice committee asked Keir Starmer how he intended to cut 25% of budget without the justice system falling into disrepute.

Mr Starmer said the CPS was trying to avoid forced redundancies but admitted that there would need to be reform in the magistrates and Crown courts for the savings to be accomplished.

Unlike other organisations, "we don't control the volume of work coming in to us," Mr Starmer insisted.

The director of public prosecutions has been at the centre of numerous controversies recently, with many of the CPS' recent decisions coming in for intense criticism from commentators and activists.

The appearance comes just days after Mr Starmer confirmed he would re-examine the evidence in the News of the World phone hacking case.

That decision was described as "totally legitimate" by Nick Clegg yesterday, but questions were raised about why the CPS decided to re-evaluate the evidence so soon after closing the case on a month-long review of evidence held by Scotland Yard.

The CPS confirmed it would review the evidence again following "developments in the civil courts". Several high-profile victims of the alleged phone hacking are pursuing legal action against News Group, which owns News of the World.

Mr Starmer was not questioned on the issue today, although MPs did ask about the CPS' guidance to police in the case of long-term undercover operations.

The question comes after the collapse of a £1 million trial of six environmental activists accused of plotting to break into Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire.

The case collapsed after the involvement of Mark Kennedy, a former Metropolitan Police officer who posed as a climate change protester known as 'Mark Stone', was uncovered.

Asked what the CPS did to ensure that undercover police involvement did not lead to allegations of them acting as agents provocateurs, Mr Starmer confirmed that no CPS guidance existed.

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