Lady Haldane will issue her judgment on the Scottish government’s challenge to Westminster’s S.35 Order on the GRR Bill at ca. midday Friday. It will be the first on how far, if at all, Westminster can limit the Scottish government’s devolved legislative powers. It will also have implications for the Equality Act and how trans rights affect women’s rights. That there is a clash between them has not been in doubt since the High Court’s July 2021 decision on women’s…
It was not the Commission which changed the law allowing the Post Office to prosecute subpostmasters on the basis of flawed unreliable evidence. But MPs. Parliamentary scrutiny should mean something, shouldn’t it? Let’s see what it actually meant here. How did MPs discharge their function? Many are lawyers. One of the much touted benefits is meant to be that they can properly scrutinise such legislation and understand its implications. MPs also get expenses to pay for researchers. Did they ask…
What was the one development without which the Post Office scandal could not have happened? In a bitter irony, tinkering with a law enacted following a serious miscarriage of justice – the Confait case – the Inquiry report (yes, another one!) is here) enabled what is now the worst miscarriage of justice in English history. The law is the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (“PACE”); the tinkering is to S.69 – its removal and replacement by – well, nothing. …
A key issue in the Post Office (“PO”) scandal is what the government, was doing – or not – while it happened. It is not within the inquiry’s scope, that being written by politicians and civil servants whose behaviour, or that of their predecessors, would otherwise be uncomfortably scrutinised. Let’s look anyway. The self-image of publicly owned entities is exemplified by the National Coal Board. Miners proudly held signs saying collieries were now managed ‘On Behalf Of The People‘. Alas,…
There comes a point in many investigations when you know exactly what has happened, why and who is at fault. It may not mean its end. But the essential findings are clear, no matter what’s needed to colour in the whole picture. What happened on Tuesday at the Post Office (“PO”) Inquiry was such a moment. There were two events. The first was the evidence of Elaine Cottam, eviscerated here by Nick Wallis as an “obtuse, thick-as-mince, malevolent incompetent”. She…
Remember the fuss about Johnson’s WhatsApp messages during Covid, the government’s legal challenge to the S.21 demand made by the Covid Inquiry’s Chair and it losing that challenge? The issue of why the PM’s Principal Private Secretary turned on WhatsApp’s ‘disappearing message‘ function for the PM’s WhatsApp group just before the Inquiry was announced is exercising it right now. Now we have the Scottish version – only it appears to be worse, both for the Scottish politicians and civil servants…
October is Black History Month. Labour marked this by issuing a Tweet saying that it is: “the time to celebrate the achievements and contributions of Black communities and acknowledge the inequality they still face.” To this end, Labour’s message went on: “Labour will introduce a Race Equality Act to tackle structural racial inequalities.” Here’s the problem with this proposal. There already exists a law to do just this. The Equality Act. In force since 1 October 2010. Passed by Labour…
Cyclefree gives her view Jonathan Sumption, former Law Lord, eminent historian of the 100 Years’ War, once described by Alastair Campbell as the “cleverest man in Britain” with a “brain the size of a planet” has had a long and distinguished legal career, having previously been a fellow of Magdalen College, specialising in medieval history. Like many with high intelligence he can, however, be naive about others’ baser motives. His Reith lectures raised important questions about the balance between law…