Post Office scandal
The FT (£) reports that the mass exoneration of postmasters and subpostmasters in the Post Office scandal has raised concerns among judges about parliamentary interference in the courts.
There is crossover with the Safety of Rwanda Bill, which threatens judicial independence as it declares Rwanda ‘safe’ for asylum seekers after the court ruled otherwise.
David McNeill, the Law Society’s director of public affairs and campaigns said: “Asylum seekers who come over on boats may be less sympathetic than the victims of the Post Office scandal in public discourse… [but] there are read-acrosses here about the role of parliament.”
The Post Office legislation was “a dramatic intervention by the government in the independence of our justice system and the judiciary. And we absolutely can’t see that precedent repeated.”
Also covered in the Conversation and Yahoo! News.
The Gazette also covers the Post Office scandal in-depth, reporting that we welcome the government’s proposal to exonerate all victims of the scandal, but warned against setting a precedent.
Law Society president Nick Emmerson said: “Such an exceptional scheme can only be justified in these very extraordinary circumstances. It cannot be treated as a precedent or justify further government intervention in the independence of our justice system.”
Rwanda Bill
Ahead of the Safety of Rwanda Bill’s return to the House of Commons on Tuesday, the Guardian reports the legislation risks undermining the rule of law.
We said that the recent Supreme Court judgment against the Rwanda asylum policy highlighted that many of the problems with Rwanda’s asylum system were structural and that it was doubtful this could change in the short term.
“The Law Society therefore has serious concerns that the treaty and its additional measures do not sufficiently address the concerns of the supreme court,” we said in new evidence published by the Lords International Agreements Committee.
“It is alarming that the UK government should be seeking to use law to change fact through both this treaty and the accompanying domestic legislation. Doing so significantly undermines the rule of law and the constitutional role of the courts.”
Sheffield Crown Court
BBC News, ITV News, Yorkshire Live and the Gazette report that a catastrophic flood at Sheffield Crown Court forced it to close last Friday. It is not expected to re-open until Wednesday.
Law Society president Nick Emmerson said: “We are seeing the degradation of the courts estate across England and Wales due to decades of underinvestment.
“Floods, ceilings caving in, broken heating, mould - the list of the examples we hear from our members goes on.
“The shambolic state of our courts contributes to the soaring backlog of cases waiting to be heard and strains to breaking point a criminal justice system that is already on its knees.
“The government's own unambitious target of reducing the Crown Court backlog to 53,000 by March 2025 seems even more realistic.”
Mike Jones, a member of our Criminal Law Committee, added: “It will be impossible for Sheffield Crown Court to utilise the old Doncaster Crown Court, which has only one courtroom as the Doncaster magistrates' have been sitting there for a few months – their building is due to take 9-12 months to fix.
“Sheffield Magistrates' Court limps along and has had regular closures due to unresolved problems with the heating system. We often decamp to the Crown Court as the cells often reach below acceptable temperatures. The structure is generally falling."
Criminal court backlogs
Today’s Family Lawyer reports on new government statistics which show that the backlogs in the criminal courts have not improved.
Law Society president Nick Emmerson said: “It is extremely worrying to see the huge backlogs in our criminal courts continue to rise, which is leading to unacceptable delays for victims, witnesses and defendants.
“The number of outstanding cases in the magistrates’ courts is almost 30,000 higher than it was a year ago.
“While the Crown Court backlog has reduced slightly month-on-month to 65,077 it is still more than 3,500 higher than last year and far above the UK government’s target of reducing it to 53,000 by March 2025.
“Decades of cuts and underinvestment in our criminal justice system has led us to this crisis where there aren’t enough judges, lawyers and court staff to deal with the huge volume of work. Only sustained investment across the system can replenish it and ensure timely access to justice for victims and defendants.”
Regulation of legal executives
Legal Futures continues coverage of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX) announcing that it has have been encouraged by the “strong support” it has had from the profession in response to its consultation on transferring regulation of legal executives from CILEX to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
The Law Society’s opposition to the move is mentioned.
Also worth a read:
- Post Office scandal: Private prosecutions could be reformed – Guardian & Observer
- Post Office scandal: 1999 memo predicted scandal – Guardian
- Rwanda Bill: PM gears up for fight in Commons – BBC News
- Clyde & Co fined £500k for money laundering breaches – Times (£)
- Benjamin Netanyahu vows to continue Israel’s to war in Gaza – FT (£)
- General Election: YouGov survey predicts Tories are facing general election wipeout – Telegraph (£)
- Immigration ineptitude causing Leave voters to ditch the Tories – Telegraph (£)