Lord Neuberger: attacking judges ‘not sensible’
Britain’s most senior judge attacks Theresa May for criticising immigration judges and warns cuts to legal aid funding could see people “take law into their own hands”.
The president of the Supreme Court, Lord Neuberger, has launched an attack on the home secretary who recently warned that immigration judges were making the UK more dangerous by ignoring rules aimed at deporting more foreign criminals.
In a series of interviews Lord Neuberger said the comments, made in an article in the Mail on Sunday, were “inappropriate and wrong”. He warned that such public attacks risked “destabilising” the delicate balance between parliament and the judiciary.
The judge, who took over as president of the Supreme Court last October, lambasted government plans to slash £350m from the legal aid budget, saying it would lead to “frustration and lack of confidence in the system” or people to “take the law into their own hands”.
Attack on ministers
Lord Neuberger told The Daily Telegraph: “If we start attacking each other in public when each group was honestly trying to do its job, even if we don’t agree with the way they’re doing it, it does no credit either to the minister who’s attacking or to the judge who is being attacked.
“It’s bad for both of us and I don’t see what the benefit is.”
He added that ministers’ criticisms were unfair on judges who “don’t speak out in public against ministers”.
One of the reasons why we don’t speak out is it just is destabilising for the system,” he said.
“We have a very good system in this country of distributing power and balancing power between the legislature, parliament and the executive, civil service, ministers and the judges. We each respect each other’s turf.
“Inevitably there’s going to be tensions. Indeed, if there weren’t tensions something would be wrong. If the judges always did things ministers liked then there would be understandable suspicion as to what was going on.”
‘DIY legal culture’
In a separate interview, Lord Neuberger said that he fears cuts to legal aid could undermine the rule of law. His came shortly before the Justice Secretary Chris Grayling unveiled plans to make further savings to the £2bn bill for legal aid in England and Wales. Plans include introducing price competition in the criminal legal aid market and a “cost consultation” process will start in April.
Reforms to be brought in from April mean some areas of law will not be covered by legal aid, including some divorce cases and clinical negligence. Experts warm that many people will be forced to pay privately for advice, find charitable help or represent themselves.
Lord Neuberger told the BBC: “My worry is the removal of legal aid for people to get advice about law and get representation in court will start to undermine the rule of law because people will feel like the government isn’t giving them access to justice in all sorts of cases.
“And that will either lead to frustration and lack of confidence in the system, or it will lead to people taking the law into their own hands.”
He added that people forced to represent themselves will take up more court time, offsetting the financial savings made by cuts.