Post Office scandal
The Oldham Times 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.”
Rwanda Bill
Ahead of the Safety of Rwanda Bill’s return to the House of Commons today, Eastern Eye, Asian Times, Garavi Gujarat and Sri Lanka Weekly report 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.”
i News speaks to Christopher Cole, a member of our Immigration Law Committee, about the Rwanda Bill. This is also covered in GB News.
UK signs Hague 19 Convention
City AM, Lexis Nexis, Today’s Family Lawyer, Today’s Wills & Probate and Today’s Conveyancer report about our response to the UK signing the Hague 19 Convention.
The Law Society of England and Wales President, Nick Emmerson, said:
“We are pleased the UK is joining the Hague 19 Convention, which sets out to provide a framework of common rules to facilitate the recognition and enforcement of judgments from one jurisdiction to another.
The Convention will come into force 12 months after ratification and will apply to judgment in proceedings started after that day.
By facilitating the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, the Convention enhances access to justice for citizens and consumers around the world. It also strengthens a positive national and international environment for multilateral trade, investment and mobility.
It is important, however, that the UK becoming a contracting state to Hague 19 should not stop efforts to further facilitate cross border enforcement of judgments, including continued discussions to accede to the Lugano Convention.”
Renters Reform Bill
Central Housing Group reports our position of the Renters Reform Bill. The President of the Law Society, Nick Emmerson, has stated that reforms in the Bill will be “in vain” without greater investment in legal aid.
Women & Diversity in Law Awards 2024
The Law Society has been shortlisted in the Disability and/or Neurodiversity Initiative of the Year category at the Women & Diversity in Law Awards 2024.
Also worth a read:
- CILEX seeks SRA assurance over Axiom Ince compensation bill – Gazette
- Post Office scandal: Examining the role of lawyers – Times, Times Letters to Editor
- Post Office scandal: BCS calls for a review in the legal presumption that evidence from a computer is correct unless proven otherwise – Gazette
- Rwanda Bill: 70 Tory MPs could not back amendments or abstain from supporting the Bill – Guardian, Sky News and ITV News
- Rwanda Bill: PM’s last ditch attempt to win over Tory rebels - Independent
- LSB’s CEO will be stepping down at the end of March - Gazette
- Over a dozen barristers’ chambers could lose thousands of pounds of the collapse of firm SSB Law - Gazette