Thursday, October 08, 2020
Battle lines drawn on the enforcement of the law
Is the government now officially at war with the legal profession? I only ask because of remarks by the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, who used her speech to the Conservative party conference to criticise lawyers for doing their job in defending migrants, linking them directly with traffickers who help asylum-seekers to cross borders. Having a Home Secretary who does not rsespect due legal process is quite an achievement for Boris Johnson. One wonders if he has even noticed or, if he has, if he understands the significance of Patel's comments.
The Law Society has now written to the Home Office asking them to change the language they are using:
President Simon Davis said: “Slinging insults at lawyers risks leading not just to verbal abuse but to lawyers being physically attacked for doing their job … [and] it undermines a legal system which has evolved over many centuries, which helps ensure that power is not abused.”
The Guardian reports the concerns of lawyers who believe that the increasingly hostile rhetoric from the government is making them feel unsafe for the first time in their careers.
And now we have the former President of the Supreme Court arguing that the government's Brexit strategy is in danger of driving the UK down a “very slippery slope” towards “dictatorship” or “tyranny”.
As the Guardian reports, Lord Neuberger on Wednesday evening condemned the internal market bill, which enables the government to breach international law and exempts some of its powers from legal challenge:
“Once you deprive people of the right to go to court to challenge the government, you are in a dictatorship, you are in a tyranny,” Neuberger told the webinar. “The right of litigants to go to court to protect their rights and ensure that the government complies with its legal obligation is fundamental to any system … You could be going down a very slippery slope.”
As Ministers appear to think they can break internatioal law and defy the domestic courts, there really could be no further obstacle to a dictatorship.
The Law Society has now written to the Home Office asking them to change the language they are using:
President Simon Davis said: “Slinging insults at lawyers risks leading not just to verbal abuse but to lawyers being physically attacked for doing their job … [and] it undermines a legal system which has evolved over many centuries, which helps ensure that power is not abused.”
The Guardian reports the concerns of lawyers who believe that the increasingly hostile rhetoric from the government is making them feel unsafe for the first time in their careers.
And now we have the former President of the Supreme Court arguing that the government's Brexit strategy is in danger of driving the UK down a “very slippery slope” towards “dictatorship” or “tyranny”.
As the Guardian reports, Lord Neuberger on Wednesday evening condemned the internal market bill, which enables the government to breach international law and exempts some of its powers from legal challenge:
“Once you deprive people of the right to go to court to challenge the government, you are in a dictatorship, you are in a tyranny,” Neuberger told the webinar. “The right of litigants to go to court to protect their rights and ensure that the government complies with its legal obligation is fundamental to any system … You could be going down a very slippery slope.”
As Ministers appear to think they can break internatioal law and defy the domestic courts, there really could be no further obstacle to a dictatorship.
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I agree that a Home Secretary who does not respect due legal process is a major defect. So too is having a legal profession that sees opportunity to make money or score points to be more important than the pursuit of justice and fairness. Two sides of the same stinking coin, perhaps.
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