Category: Criminal Justice

Keir Starmer – 2024 Statement on Rioting

The statement made by Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, on 1 August 2024.

This week – we are a nation in shock.

A country coming to terms with an attack so inexplicably vile…

That fear is an understandable reaction.

Our first thoughts of course are with the families at the heart of this…

Their pain is unimaginable.

And so I call on everyone to give them and indeed the wider community at Southport…

The space to grieve.

And time for the authorities in Merseyside…

To do their job.

There will be a time for questions.

And we will make sure that the victims and families in Southport…

Are at the heart of that process…

That’s the very least that we owe these families.

But we also owe them justice.

So while there’s a prosecution that must not be prejudiced…

For them to receive the justice that they deserve…

The time for answering those questions is not now.

And I remind everyone that the price for a trial that is prejudiced…

Is ultimately paid by the victims and their families.

Who are deprived of the justice that they deserve.

Let me turn now to the actions of a tiny, mindless minority in our society.

Because in the aftermath of this attack

The community of Southport had to suffer twice.

A gang of thugs, got on trains and busses…

Went to a community that is not their own…

A community grieving the most horrific tragedy…

And then proceeded to throw bricks at police officers.

Police officers who just 24 hours earlier…

Had been having to deal with an attack on children in their community.

Their community.

And make no mistake…

Whether it’s in Southport, London – or Hartlepool…

These people are showing our country exactly who they are.

Mosques targeted because they are Mosques.

Flares thrown at the statue of Winston Churchill.

A Nazi salute at the Cenotaph.

And so I’ve just held a meeting with senior police and law enforcement leaders…

Where we’ve resolved to show who we are.

A country – that will not allow understandable fear…

To curdle into division and hate in our communities.

And that will not permit, under any circumstances…

A breakdown in law and order on our streets.

Because let’s be very clear about this.

It’s not protest.

It’s not legitimate.

It’s crime…

Violent disorder.

An assault on the rule of law and the execution of justice.

And so on behalf of the British people…

Who expect their values and their security to be upheld…

We will put a stop to it.

I want to thank all of the police officers, across the country…

Who have already, as they so often do…

Stood up to intimidation and violence in the past few days…

And indeed, throughout the summer.

And let me be clear – the meeting this afternoon was not about pointing the finger of blame…

That is not how this Government of Service conducts its business…

Because it doesn’t work.

Rather – this was a meeting to pull together our response…

A response both to the immediate challenge…

Which is clearly driven by far-right hatred.

But also – all violent disorder that flares up.

Whatever the apparent cause or motivation – we make no distinction…

Crime is crime.

And so – to that end…

I can announce today, that following this meeting…

we will establish a national capability, across police forces…

To tackle violent disorder.

These thugs are mobile…

They move from community to community…

And we must have a policing response that can do the same.

Shared intelligence…

Wider deployment of facial recognition technology…

And preventive action – criminal behaviour orders…

To restrict their movements…

Before they can even board a train…

In just the same way we do with football hooligans.

And let me also say to large social media companies and those who run them…

Violent disorder clearly whipped up online…

That is also a crime.

It’s happening on your premises.

And the law must be upheld everywhere.

That is the single most important duty of Government…

Service rests on security.

And we will take all necessary action…

To keep our streets safe.

August 2, 2024
Richard Hermer – 2024 Swearing In Speech at Attorney General

The speech made by Richard Hermer, the Attorney General, on 15 July 2024.

It is a profound privilege to address the Lady Chief Justice and the Lord Chancellor and all the members of this court.

It is also a personal pleasure for me to make submissions in this courtroom when the risk of being asked tricky legal questions is at least lower than normal.

Being in government is a privilege that carries the responsibility of having to make hard choices but as we face the challenging path ahead the rule of law will be the lodestar for this government.

Governments should be judged by their deeds not by their rhetoric but I hope the professions and the public can take some comfort from the fact that, from the Prime Minister down, the new government is comprised of individuals who have the rule of law imprinted into their DNA, none more so than our new Lord Chancellor.

For all the reasons set out by my lady and for many more, I can tell the Court that we have a Lord Chancellor with the character, authority, intellect and experience not just to protect the rule of law but to begin to address the deep challenges facing our justice system.

We also have a Solicitor General who brings precisely the right mix of legal acumen, political nous and a dedication to public service to help make law and politics work together.

We wish to work with all in our mission to protect and promote the rule of law. Its principles are at the heart of the organisations the Law Officer’s superintend and we will work collegiately with the Bar Council, Law Society and CILEX in what I know is our shared endeavour to entrench the rule of law and promote human rights.

We recognise the imperative of seeking to ensure a cross-party consensus about our shared fundamental values and how we protect them for future generations.

The values that we are seeking to protect are not the property of any political party, they are not Labour values or Conservative values they are British values, indeed in many respects universal values.

The task has never been more urgent. In recent years, events at home and abroad serve to remind us all that once you start pulling on a single thread of the fabric of the rule of law system, when democratic norms are whittled away through attrition, the risk of systemic unravelling is great and the concomitant task of retrenching standards we once took for granted, very difficult indeed.

So My Lady the Law Officers will work together with the Lord Chancellor on our mission to protect and promote the rule of law. There is much to be done, too many tasks to describe in my allotted time, but let me say this.

We will support the Lord Chancellor’s mandate to protect the independence of the judiciary, allied to this we will work with her to promote better appreciation in Westminster and beyond of our constitutional balance in which a respectful relationship between parliament, the executive and the courts is understood to be the bedrock of our framework of governance.

We will work closely with the Lord Chancellor to promote the rule of law amongst the public, not least young people – seeking to use it to rebuild trust in our political system by explaining how it serves all of us and that no-one, least of all politicians, are above it.

Just as we will promote the rule of law domestically, so we will seek to promote international law and the rule of law in the international legal order. We will support the Foreign Secretary in all his efforts – cognisant of the importance of international law and the rule of law for the prosperity and security of all global citizens.

Looking inwards, we will seek to promote the highest standards in how we legislate – seeking to increase accessibility and certainty in how we make law, including not abusing the use of secondary legislation

Finally, as Law Officers we will seek to provide the Government that we serve with legal advice of the highest calibre and ensure that law is at the heart of everything that it does.

Notwithstanding the Law Officer’s commitment to the political aims of the government our legal analysis will always be guided by law not politics.

As I told a meeting with all of GLD staff last week – it is our job to speak truth to power. Sometimes we will get it wrong and in their judgments these Courts will explain why, and we will seek to learn and do better.

That is how our system works, it is as Lord Bingham said, a cardinal feature of the modern democratic state and the cornerstone of the rule of law.

July 23, 2024
Greg Smith – 2024 Comments on Prison Capacity

The comments made by Greg Smith, the Conservative MP for Mid-Buckinghamshire, in the House of Commons on 18 July 2024.

I listened very carefully to the Lord Chancellor’s comments about Members present and past who had legitimate concerns about new-build prison proposals in their constituencies. She will no doubt be aware of the proposals for a new mega-prison in Buckinghamshire on farmland adjacent to HMP Spring Hill and HMP Grendon. Those proposals are deeply unpopular in my constituency, first, on fairness grounds—they are affecting communities just one mile from the construction of HS2, which are already under siege from big construction—and, secondly, because the prisons in Buckinghamshire cannot recruit to the vacancies that they already have. Fully staffing a brand new prison is just not going to happen, so I ask the new Lord Chancellor to do my constituents the courtesy of sitting down with me so that she can hear why this particular proposal just will not work.

Shabana Mahmood

I thank the hon. Member for his question. May I gently say that this is part of the problem? I am not going to get into the specifics of his particular constituency or those particular planning proposals—those proposals are already within the planning system, as the shadow Lord Chancellor, the right hon. Member for Melton and Syston (Edward Argar), alluded to in his remarks—but prisons have to be built in this country. We have to do more building, we have to do it more quickly, and we have rightly said that we will always treat prisons as of national importance. That was actually a change brought in by the previous Government to unlock the delays that they had faced for many years, particularly when concerns were raised by their own Members of Parliament.

We take too long to build any kind of infrastructure in this country. That will not be the approach of this Government, so while I am very happy to consider any proposals that any Members of this House have about specifics in their constituency, the reality is that prisons will always be deemed by this Government to be of national importance, and they will be built.

July 19, 2024
John McDonnell – 2024 Comments on Prison Capacity

The comments made by John McDonnell, the Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington, in the House of Commons on 18 July 2024.

I declare a non-pecuniary interest: I am an honorary life member of the Prison Officers’ Association.

In seeking to be fair, as she always is, my right hon. Friend is being too kind on the last Government. They brought about a staffing crisis in our prisons that has brought rehabilitation to an end and levels of violence that we have never seen before. Will she bring forward as soon as possible a workforce strategy for our prisons and probation? As a matter of urgency, will she look in particular at Feltham young offenders institution, which has become a violent emergency for staff and for prisoners themselves?

Shabana Mahmood

My right hon. Friend is right. I take this opportunity to pay tribute to all the staff in our prisons, who do an excellent job under very difficult circumstances. He is right to acknowledge that the levels of violence in our prisons have been increasing, placing those staff at ever greater risk. This is similar to the question that I just answered on probation. When prisons are so badly overcrowded, it is incredibly difficult to run any kind of regime that can do good work on rehabilitation, or provide a safe atmosphere for the staff who work in them.

I will, of course, have conversations in the usual way when it comes to discussions about the spending review and other measures that the Chancellor will bring forward. I hope that I need not tell my right hon. Friend that I will bat hard for our Department and the people I represent. That will all happen in the usual way. We are committed to publishing our 10-year capacity strategy as quickly as possible so that we can begin the process of returning our system to some sort of health. I thank him for raising Feltham; I will look at that and write to him.

July 19, 2024
Alistair Carmichael – 2024 Speech on Prison Capacity

The speech made by Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat Justice spokesperson, in the House of Commons on 18 July 2024.

I also welcome the Lord Chancellor to her new position, and thank her for advance sight of her statement.

It has been apparent for months that measures of this sort would be necessary. These are described as temporary measures, but 18 months is a very long time for temporary measures. There would be a real danger of damaging public confidence in our criminal system if the measures were to be extended beyond that point.

The answer surely has to be more than just building more prison capacity. The problem is not that our prison estate is too small; it is that we send too many people to prison, and that the time they spend there does nothing to tackle the problems of drug and alcohol dependency, poor literacy and numeracy skills, and poor mental health, which led to their incarceration. Can we hope to hear in the very near future the Government’s comprehensive plan to tackle the issue of the time that people spend in prison?

Finally, may I bring to the Lord Chancellor’s attention the report published this morning by His Majesty’s inspectorate of probation on the failings of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough probation delivery unit? That report outlined that our duty of care to those whom we lock up should not end the day they leave custody. When will we have a response to that report?

Shabana Mahmood

I welcome the right hon. Gentleman to his place. On the 18-month period, we have inherited a criminal justice system in complete crisis and at risk of total breakdown and collapse. It will take some time, by necessity, for us to be able to put that right. I do not want to mislead the public that somehow these changes will have a quick effect. The system is in dire straits and it will take time to repair it. It is right that we are up front and honest about that time, and I will update the House regularly.

As I say, this Government’s approach will be very different from that of the last Government. We will have a regular release of data, and I anticipate that I will regularly appear before Members to talk about that data, but I welcome that opportunity because it is important that the public are kept updated, and that their representatives in this place are able to scrutinise what is happening and hold us to account. We will need time for the measures to take effect to enable us to move the system to a position of greater health.

In terms of who goes to prison, why and for how long, when we have overcrowded prisons, there is no capacity to do much other than hold people in their cells. The activity that we know is important to help people in the prison system to turn their lives around, come out as better citizens and make better choices, having made amends to society, cannot happen in deeply overcrowded prisons. That is why dealing with the capacity crisis is so necessary not just to prevent the collapse of the criminal justice system but to cut reoffending in the long term. Creating some space will allow us to introduce proposals to bring down reoffending rates in the country.

On probation, I pay tribute to all probation staff for their tremendous work. My first visit in my new role was to meet probation staff in Bedfordshire. I recognise that they have been working in a system and a service under extreme strain and facing real difficulty. That is why we will onboard 1,000 new trainee probation officers before March 2025 to add extra capacity, and why returning the probation system to health will be a key priority for this Government.

July 19, 2024
Edward Argar – 2024 Speech on Prison Capacity

The speech made by Edward Argar, the Conservative MP for Melton and Syston, in the House of Commons on 18 July 2024.

I am grateful to the Lord Chancellor for very timely advance sight of her statement. May I take this opportunity to congratulate her on her appointment, as well as the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, the hon. Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones)? I congratulate the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice, the hon. Member for Swindon South (Heidi Alexander) on her return to this place. Notwithstanding the occasional tussle across the Dispatch Box, I look forward to working constructively with Lord Chancellor, and to holding her and the Government to account. She is of course a decent, courteous, and incredibly able person, and I wish her well in her role.

We recognise the challenges and pressures facing the prison and criminal justice system, and the need to ensure that our prisons function effectively. Of course, the Government were well aware of those things when they were in opposition, as I know from challenging oral question sessions. In Government, we took the right decisions to significantly toughen up sentences for those who commit the worst crimes, in order to ensure that society was protected. To reflect that, we set in train the biggest prison building programme since the Victorian era. More than 13,000 additional prison places were delivered while we were in government. Two new prisons opened; one prison is under construction; there are two prisons with planning permission; and one prison is on the cusp of a decision. Labour’s planning permission proposal for prisons would not impact any of those developments. In that respect, it is simply a gimmick.

Crucially, in the covid pandemic, supported by the then Opposition, we made the tough but correct decision not to mass-release prisoners as other countries did, and we maintained that bedrock of our justice system, trial by jury. Those correct decisions meant less space, and the number of people on remand waiting for trial or sentencing dramatically increasing from around 9,000 to 16,500, with resulting additional pressures.

In deciding to reduce capacity pressure, the paramount consideration for the Lord Chancellor must always be public protection. With that in mind, although we will of course have to scrutinise the detail of her proposed sentence reduction scheme, I must say that we have significant public protection concerns about what she has announced so far, and I hope that she will be able to address those concerns today.

The Lord Chancellor set out plans for limited exclusions relating to domestic abuse, but can she confirm that if a domestic abuser is convicted of, say, common assault, as is often the case, they would not be exempt from this policy? What exclusions does she plan to put in place to ensure that the worst, persistent, repeat offenders cannot benefit from this scheme? She set out that this was a temporary measure that will be reviewed after 18 months. What criteria will she set for its ending? Better still, will she commit to sunsetting the measure in the delegated legislation, and to returning to the House on this afresh in 18 months, if needed?

What additional resources are being made available to probation? We hear what the Lord Chancellor says about getting 1,000 more trainee probation staff by March 2025, but how many of those will actually be new? How many will be additional to those whom we already planned to have in place through the existing trajectory for new trainees? Can she guarantee that no prisoners will benefit from her early release scheme without GPS tags and strict conditions? Indeed, will she mandate the imposition of GPS tracking? Can she confirm to the House progress on bringing HMP Dartmoor’s places back into use, and her long-term plans for HMP Dartmoor’s places? The previous Government committed £30 million to acquire land for building new prisons, and had already begun drawing up a site longlist. Is she expanding that fund, or merely re-announcing the same thing?

More widely, the Lord Chancellor states that this is a temporary measure to ease pressure, so what are her long-term plans for meeting demand? Is she planning to scrap the tougher sentences for serious crimes that the Conservatives put in place to protect the public, and so to reverse our changes, or is she planning to build more prisons over and above the six that we committed to funding, to meet future demand? If it is the latter, has the Chancellor agreed the significant extra funding needed? Those are the long-term questions to which she and the Government owe this House and the public answers, given the changes that she is making today. I hope that she will be able to give clear answers.

Shabana Mahmood

I welcome the shadow Lord Chancellor to his place; we have always worked constructively together wherever appropriate, and I look forward to continuing to do so while he is in post. He made a heroic attempt to gloss over many years of failure in planning by the previous Government. I was surprised that he managed to say it all with a straight face. He knows full well that for many years the previous Government struggled to get such measures past many of their Back-Benchers, not all of whom have returned post the general election, but some of whom remain here, and remain implacable opponents of any kind of planning developments in their constituency. They think that national infrastructure is a good thing as long as it is elsewhere. I look forward to seeing whether there is a change of heart among those on the Opposition Benches. It would be welcome, because this Government will not allow the planning system to prevent our country from having either the prison places or the national infrastructure that we so desperately need. He also knows full well that of the 20,000 places that were supposed to have been provided by the previous Government by 2025, only 6,000 have been delivered.

I am concerned about the position relating to prisoners on remand. The shadow Lord Chancellor rightly notes that the number of those on remand in our prison estate is around 16,000. Of course, judges need to be able to remand people to prison for public protection reasons. That will not change. He will know, given his former role in the Department, that there are no immediate solutions, because many of those individuals will in the end be sentenced to custody. I am considering all options available to me for driving that number down as much as possible. In the end, we will need our 10-year capacity plan to take account of what we expect the sentenced population to look like.

On the sentences that are covered by this measure, the shadow Lord Chancellor will know that in order to make a change by means of a statutory instrument, it has to relate to specific offences. That is why we have taken every precaution and every option available to us to exclude sentences connected to domestic abuse. He knows that those will include—I am sure that he has seen the draft statutory instrument—offences related to the breaching of a non-molestation order; stalking, which I mentioned in my statement, including stalking involving the fear of violence, serious alarm or distress; strangulation or suffocation; controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship; the breaching of a restraining order; and a breach of a domestic abuse protection order. The common offences that we know are connected to domestic abuse are caught in the statutory instrument. On multiple and repeat offences, he will know that the decision relies on the combination that is reviewed when the sentencing calculation is done.

As I said in my statement, I will return in 18 months to update the House. We want to remove this temporary measure as quickly as possible, and we will be transparent throughout. The shadow Lord Chancellor will not need to chase me around this building trying to find out what is happening, as I had to when I was in his position and we were considering the previous Government’s early release scheme. We will be transparent in a way that the previous Government simply were not. We will do a quarterly release of all the data, and we will update the House regularly.

I am sure that the right hon. Gentleman followed the announcement on Friday closely, so he will know that the announcement on probation does not involve new money. It is a re-prioritisation of resources, because strengthening probation to make sure that it is in the strongest possible position to deal with the early release scheme is incredibly important to us.

On Dartmoor, the right hon. Gentleman knows the history very well. Safety is our No. 1 priority, and after close monitoring of the situation at HMP Dartmoor, it has been decided that prison will be temporarily closed. I will update the House as the situation develops. I say to him gently that we have committed to a 10-year capacity strategy. We recognise that we need to make sure that this country has the prison places that it needs. We will deliver where the previous Government failed, and we will never allow the planning process to get in the way of having the prisons that we need in this country.

Longer term, however, we will also look at driving down reoffending, because the entrenched cycle of reoffending creates more victims and more crime, and it has big impacts on our ability to have the capacity that we need in our prison estate. That is why this Government will make it a key priority to drive down reoffending. That is a strategy for creating better citizens, not better criminals. It is a strategy for cutting crime, and in the long term, it will deal with our capacity problems for years to come.

Bambos Charalambous (Southgate and Wood Green) (Lab)

I welcome my right hon. Friend to her place on the Government Front Bench. The imprisonment for public protection prison population is more than 2,700; 99% of those people are over tariff, and more than 700 prisoners are now 10 years over their original tariff. Can she accelerate the Ministry of Justice’s refreshed IPP action plan to help to reduce the prison population and right that wrong?

Shabana Mahmood

I thank my hon. Friend for that question. The situation with IPP prisoners is of great concern, and I know that huge numbers of Members on both sides of this House care about it deeply. I share that concern. IPP prisoners are not caught in the changes that we are putting forward; those are indeterminate sentences, not standard determinate sentences. We supported the previous Government in what we thought were sensible changes to the licence period and the action plan, and we will continue that work. However, any changes made have to account for public protection risks, first and foremost. We want to make progress with that cohort of prisoners, but not in a way that impacts public protection.

July 19, 2024
Shabana Mahmood – 2024 Statement on Prison Capacity

The statement made by Shabana Mahmood, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, in the House of Commons on 18 July 2024.

With permission, Mr Speaker, I will make a statement about prison capacity in England and Wales.

As you know, Mr Speaker, I wanted to make this announcement first in this House. However, given the scale of the emergency facing our prisons, I was forced to set out these measures before Parliament returned.

Since this Government took office two weeks ago, it has become clear that our prisons are in crisis and are at the point of collapse. The male prison estate has been running at over 99% capacity for the last 18 months. We now know that my predecessor warned No. 10 Downing Street but, rather than address this crisis, the former Prime Minister called an election, leaving a ticking time bomb. If that bomb were to go off—if our prisons were to run out of space—the courts would grind to a halt, suspects could not be held in custody and police officers would be unable to make arrests, leaving criminals free to act without consequence. In short, if we fail to act now, we face the prospect of a total breakdown of law and order.

Rather than act, the last Prime Minister allowed us to edge ever closer to catastrophe. Last week, there were around 700 spaces remaining in the male prison estate. With 300 places left, we reach critical capacity. At that point, the smallest change could trigger the chain of events I just set out. With the prison population rising, it is now clear that by September this year, our prisons will overflow. That means there is now only one way to avert disaster.

As the House knows, most of those serving standard determinate sentences leave prison at the halfway point, serving the rest of their sentence in the community. The Government now have no option but to introduce a temporary change in the law. Yesterday, we laid a statutory instrument in draft. Subject to the agreement of both Houses, those serving eligible standard determinate sentences will leave prison after serving 40%, rather than 50%, of their sentence in custody, and will serve the rest on licence. Our impact assessment estimates that around 5,500 offenders will be released in September and October. From that time until we are able to reverse this emergency measure, 40% will be the new point of automatic release for eligible standard determinate sentences.

The Government do not take this decision lightly, but to disguise reality and delay any further, as the last Government did, is unconscionable. We are clear that this is the safest way forward. In the words of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, these steps are “the least worst option”. He went on to say that

“the worst possible thing would be for the system to block”,

and that any alternative to these measures would be “dangerous for the public”.

I understand that some may feel worried by this decision, but I can assure the House that we are taking every precaution available to us. There will be important exclusions. Sentences for the most dangerous crimes—for sexual and serious violent offences—will not change. That will also be the case for a series of offences linked to domestic violence, including stalking, controlling or coercive behaviour and non-fatal strangulation, as well as those related to national security.

We will also implement stringent protections. First, this change will not take effect until early September, giving the probation service time to prepare. Secondly, all offenders released will be subject to strict licence conditions, to ensure they can be managed safely in the community. Thirdly, offenders can be ordered to wear electronic tags, and curfews will be imposed where appropriate. Finally, if offenders breach the conditions of their licence, they can be returned to prison immediately.

Let me be clear: this is an emergency measure, not a permanent change. This Government are clear that criminals must be punished. We do not intend to allow the 40% release point to stand in perpetuity. That is why I will review these measures again, in 18 months’ time, when the situation in our prisons will have stabilised. Throughout, this Government will be transparent. We will publish data on the number of offenders released on a quarterly basis, and we will publish an annual prison capacity statement, legislating to make this a statutory requirement.

When we implement this change, we will stop the end of custody supervised licence scheme introduced by the last Government, which operated under a veil of secrecy. From the Opposition Benches, I was forced to demand more information about who was being released and what crimes they had committed. This Government have now released that data, showing that over 10,000 offenders were released early, often with very little warning to probation officers, placing them under enormous strain. This was only ever a short-term fix. It was one of a series of decisions this Government believe must be examined more fully, which is why we are announcing a review into how this capacity crisis was allowed to happen and why the necessary decisions were not taken at critical moments.

The measures I have set out today are not a silver bullet. The capacity crisis will not disappear immediately, and these measures will take time to take effect. But when they do, they will give us the time to address the prisons crisis, not just today but for years to come. This includes accelerating the prison building programme to ensure we have the cells we need. Later this year, we will publish a ten-year capacity strategy. That strategy will outline the steps that the Government will take to acquire land for new prison sites, and will classify prisons as being of national importance, placing decision making in Ministers’ hands. The Government are also committed to longer-term reform and cutting reoffending.

Too often, our prisons create better criminals, not better citizens, and nearly 80% of offending is reoffending, all at immense cost to communities and the taxpayer. As Lord Chancellor, my priority is to drive down that number. To do that, the Government will strengthen probation, starting with the recruitment of at least 1,000 new trainee probation officers by the end of March 2025. We will work with prisons to improve offenders’ access to learning and other training, as well as bringing together prison governors, local employers and the voluntary sector to get ex-offenders into work. We know that if an offender has a job within a year of release, they are less likely to reoffend. It is only by driving down reoffending that we will find a sustainable solution to the prisons crisis.

In a speech last week, I called the previous occupants of Downing Street “the guilty men”. I did not use that analogy flippantly. I believe that they placed the country in grave danger. Their legacy is a prison system in crisis, moments from catastrophic disaster. It was only by pure luck, and the heroic efforts of prison and probation staff, that disaster did not strike while they were in office. The legacy of this Government will be different. We will see a prison system brought under control; a probation service that keeps the public safe; enough prison places to meet our needs; and prisons, probation and other services working together to break the cycle of reoffending and so cut crime.

I never thought that I would have to announce the measures that I have set out today, but the scale of this emergency has forced this Government to act now, rather than delay any longer. This Government will always put the country and its safety first. I commend this statement to the House.

July 19, 2024
Yvette Cooper – 2024 Speech at the Police Bravery Awards

The speech made by Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, at the Royal Lancaster Hotel on 11 July 2024.

Thank you very much, and good evening everybody. It is such an enormous privilege to be here this evening.

As we all know, really the very best and bravest of British policing. Tiffany was saying this is the 29th annual Bravery Awards. Feel that means I’ve actually been here for half of them.

So this is my 14th annual Bravery Awards. So I want to thank the Police Federation, Police Mutual, and of course, the unstoppable Mark Durden-Smith who will be with us later on, who’s been coming probably even longer than I have.

There has been a huge amount of work to make this happen. This is going to be an evening of tributes to some incredible bravery, some incredible stories of heroism.

But can I also just start by saying thank you, to all of the partners, all of the relatives, all of the families who are also here this evening because the work that your partners do, that I know you will feel so proud of, is actually only possible because of your love and support. And I know sometimes that can be the hardest of thing to do and to deal with.

It was a pleasure to meet so many of you this morning in the reception that we had in Downing Street. One of the officers I was speaking to said “Oh, it’s really surreal being here in Downing Street. And I had to say “yeah, you and me both!”

I’m still getting used to the change in roles. Yesterday morning, so I wake up, I always have the radio on, the alarm on in the morning. I woke up with the voice on the radio saying “and the shadow Home Secretary has said major changes need to be made in the party after the election.” I leapt up thinking “oh my God, what have I said now?”

So it is a real honour to be able to come out of the shadows after such a long time and to be here to support you and to pay tribute to you as your Home Secretary this year.

This morning’s reception, I’m told it was actually the first Downing Street reception that the new government has held and I think that could not be more fitting. I could not think of a more fitting group of people to be there being honoured in Downing Street this morning. I bring you good wishes from the Prime Minister who’s obviously abroad today and pays tribute as well, because the reason I have attended so many Police Bravery Awards in so many different roles in the past is because I think it’s so important to respect and recognise the work you do, and because the stories are always so inspirational, often so difficult.

Incredibly difficult situations that you will have faced, the extreme violence that you will have had to walk towards, the dangerous rescues that many of you have undertaken. And, they are a reminder of the work that not just you, but this is right across the country during every single day to keep us safe. We will hear so many more of those stories during the course of this evening.

But I just want to reflect briefly on last year’s awards. And last year, I had the honour of presenting an award to officers from the West Midlands who had shown extraordinary courage wading into the icy waters at Babbs Mill Lake in an effort to save 4 children who had fallen through the ice.

Their overwhelming emotion as they collected their reward was actually deep distress, that those young lives had been lost despite their efforts, and their thoughts with the families who had been left bereft.

For me, that moment did capture what is so important about British policing because it was the selfless service that those officers have shown, in the most dangerous situations, and their determination to do everything that they could to try to help, and also their compassion for those who needed their help, and for those who have sought to protect, and their loved ones.

And it’s that combination that is so special about British policing. And Tiff has said already, we do hear it so often and I heard it again this morning from I think four different people that I spoke to “well I was just doing my job.” “Well it’s just the job, anybody would have done it.”

It’s not just a job. This isn’t a normal job. This really is a job like no other. And those of you who have been nominated tonight, have responded like no other and really gone above and beyond. To keep us safe. And that is why we all owe you so much thanks.

So I wanted to pay tribute to all of the officers and staff across the country, who are working this evening, who are working tonight and will be working through the night to keep our community safe.

We all know policing has faced challenges in recent years and confidence has fallen. What I want to say is that I will be with you every step of the way as we work to restore confidence, as we work to raise standards, as we work to shine a light on the incredible bravery and the incredible heroism and the sense of duty, the selfless duty, that policing shows every single day, and I will be with you in that work.

And I will say one more thing, which is that putting the safety and well-being of others above your own out of duty can take its toll. And I have seen the tears sometimes in eyes of officers coming up to collect these awards, as they have to relive what happened and sometimes traumatic events. I know that being a police officer, it’s a great toll as a result of the things that you have to do, so that the rest of us don’t. And we owe you for that.

And that’s why I also want to work with the Police Federation and with all of you to support police officers and staff through every step of the way. It’s why we supported Bryn Hughes’ campaign, and why I’m so pleased that we will have the Elizabeth Emblems, the first ones been given out in the course of this year, but also why I will work with you to make sure that the Police Covenant is properly implemented and respected, so we can support police officers in everything that they do.

So 6 days into the job. The sun’s been shining. England are in the Euros. Someone told me they haven’t actually lost a match under a Labour Government.

We have optimism and determination so we know there’s going to be serious challenges ahead, we know there will be issues around resources, there will be issues around so many different things, but actually when we stand together, with pride in that tradition, that British policing tradition, policing by consent. I’m proud, I’m so proud of British policing. I’m so proud of the work that you do. And I’m so proud as we move now, to be able to give the Inspiration Award, to be able to celebrate and pay tribute to all of you tonight, to all of you for being inspirational.

Thank you very much.

July 17, 2024
Shabana Mahmood – 2024 Swearing in Speech as Lord Chancellor

The speech made by Shabana Mahmood, the Lord Chancellor, on 16 July 2024.

My Lords, Ladies, friends, colleagues.

Lady Chief Justice, thank you for that welcome.

May I also take the opportunity to welcome Richard Hermer KC as he takes his oath today as Attorney General.

Mr Attorney, your deep expertise will be of enormous value to the Government…

And I know already that we will be allies to one another in our roles.

So too Sarah Sackman, who takes her oath as Solicitor General today.

Madam Solicitor, it took me 14 years from becoming a Member of Parliament, to serving in government.

You’ve done it in 5 days.

That is a fitting tribute to the talent and dedication you have shown to upholding the rule of law throughout your career.

I look forward to working closely with you in the months and years ahead.

I must say what an honour it is to take my own oath as Lord Chancellor today.

There once was a little girl in Small Heath, one of the poorest areas of Birmingham…

Who worked behind the till in her parents’ corner shop.

Yes, she took great inspiration from Kavanagh QC, that brilliant barrister with working class roots…

But she never dared to dream she would be sitting before you all today…

Counted among the holders of this ancient role.

So believe me, I know: along with some fairly idiosyncratic outfits, comes great responsibility.

I hold this office in the very highest regard.

I do so not just as a former barrister, but as the child of immigrants.

My parents weren’t steeped in Magna Carta, Habeas Corpus and the Bill of Rights – as I would one day be.

But they did have a strong sense, arriving here in the UK from rural Kashmir, that this country was different:

That there are rules, some written and some not, that we abide by:

Queues must be observed, near religiously…

Weather must be discussed, pretty compulsively…

But also, more seriously, there are institutions, like our courts, that are incorruptible…

And that, in this country, no-one is above the law, not even the government, and none are below it either.

To have so many of my family here today, stretching the limits of my guestlist quota, means a great deal to me.

And while I have the chance:

Mum, Dad, can I just say: jazakallah khair, thank you.

Instilled as a child, my respect for the rule of law grew stronger as I grew older:

First, studying law at university…

Then, in practice.

And it was never felt more keenly than when appearing before a member of our fiercely independent judiciary…

I can now confirm that the same tingle of nerves never goes away…

Even when you’re the Lord Chancellor appearing alongside the Lady Chief Justice.

I’d also like to thank the man who set me on my way in the law, to whom I will forever be indebted:

My pupil master – William Audland KC – who is squeezed between members of my very large, extended family in the gallery today.

I understand it’s customary for a new Lord Chancellor to draw parallels with an eminent predecessor when they take their oath…

I had a good old look around for a Lord Chancellor who looks or sounds like me, but drew something of a blank.

That’s right, folks. There wasn’t a single Brummie.

There was one who leapt out though, whose example I hope to follow:

Frederick Elwyn-Jones.

We share a few things in common:

Our Inn of Court – Gray’s.

Our political party – Labour.

As a barrister he had a passion for human rights, and was a prosecutor at Nuremberg.

I – and this government – will follow his example in defending the international rule of law and upholding human rights.

And we will certainly not be seeking to extricate ourselves from the landmark human rights convention drawn up in the aftermath of that war.

Elwyn-Jones served as Lord Chancellor for 5 years between 1974 and 1979.

By recent standards, that counts as an eternity.

I certainly hope to emulate his longevity.

It is said that he was the first Welsh speaking Lord Chancellor for centuries.

I wonder what he would’ve made of the first Lord Chancellor to speak Urdu.

I’ve carried the weight of many identities in this career…

It is a privilege, but also a burden…

I am always aware that, for the good of those who come afterwards, getting this wrong – I usually use less temperate language – isn’t an option.

But getting it right can open doors.

When I walked into the Ministry of Justice for the first time…

10 days ago, though it feels like 10 months…

I walked past the portraits of my recent predecessors:

The good, the bad and the ugly.

They all looked alike, and not much like me.

So, at the very least, I hope my appointment shows the next little girl…

In Small Heath, or wherever she may be…

That, in this country, even the oldest offices in the land are within reach of us all.

The responsibilities of this ancient office are as real today as they ever were.

The rule of law is more than an ideal.

It is more than a vague concept, employed only by academic lawyers…

It is the most enduring of British values.

We are a nation that believes in due process…

We are a nation where the law has the final word, not the mob…

And we are a nation where our disputes, however fierce, are resolved by debate and argument.

For politicians of all stripes, the law looms large.

As parliamentarians, we are not only advocates for our constituents, we are legislators…

Charged with making and shaping the laws our society will live by.

But it is our independent courts who must then interpret and enforce those laws, with no hint of political interference.

And I take seriously my oath to defend your independence…

You are the guardians of the rule of law and at the heart of our legal prestige.

It is a job that requires deep expertise, knowledge and integrity…

As you make decisions on some of the most difficult ethical and technical issues of our time…

You must be free to make them without political pressure and undue influence.

You must never be subjected to the kinds of attacks that we saw in recent years…

When newspaper headlines branded those who uphold the law: “enemies of the people”.

I will be a champion for the rule of law, and our judiciary, inside Cabinet and in our government, at home and abroad.

I will say ‘no’ where ‘no’ is warranted…

Even if, at times, I frustrate my ministerial colleagues in doing so.

After all, that frustration is not a failure of our system, but an essential feature of it.

The final part of my oath places a duty on me to ensure the provision of resources for the courts…

Which is where safeguarding access to justice truly begins.

I must first take the opportunity to acknowledge the complete dedication shown by those who work in our courts and tribunals…

And how hard you have worked to recover from the effects of the pandemic.

I know the challenges faced in our courts, and across the justice system, are very deep indeed.

I hope you saw last week, in the emergency measures that we have taken to address the prisons crisis…

That I will do what it takes to ensure justice can be done in this country.

But I know there is so much more that must be addressed:

Justice delayed is all too often justice denied…

And this has proved particularly true of women and girls who are the victims of violence and abuse.

So we must work hard across the justice system to ensure cases are heard sooner and justice is done in a timely way.

We must also continue the modernisation of our courts and tribunals – criminal, civil and family.

And we need legal aid that is fit for the needs of the modern world.

I don’t pretend that any of these have easy answers…

Nor that everything will be solved quickly.

But I can say that I will fight for our justice system…

And that I intend to be in that fight for the long haul.

Chapter 4 Verse 135 of the Quran reads:

O ye who believe!

Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah…

Even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin…

And whether it be (against) rich or poor:

For Allah can best protect both.

This is the fundamental articulation of how we, as Muslims, view justice in how we deal with the world.

It places justice above all else.

Upholding justice is the ideal that has guided my life.

It ties together both where my family came from, and the great nation we chose to call home.

And so I will fight for it, every day…

With the fierceness of many generations of small but mighty Kashmiri women…

Inherited from my mother.

And I will pursue the hard work of rebuilding our justice system…

With the dogged determination I inherited from my dad…

Who came to this country to make a new life for his family – and never took “no” for an answer.

To swear this oath today is the greatest honour of my life.

But, more even than that, it is the greatest of responsibilities.

I will work tirelessly to discharge its duties and to defend justice.

Thank you.

July 16, 2024
Alex Chalk – 2024 Speech at the Times Law Awards

The speech made by Alex Chalk, the Lord Chancellor, in London on 8 May 2024.

My Lords, Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to join you tonight.

I am, as you’ve just heard, the Lord Chancellor. It was a predecessor of mine who went along to HMP Wormwood Scrubs, and the Governor said, “thank you very much for coming” and “if you wouldn’t mind addressing the prisoners, please”. He thought it was a bit strange, but that he had better do as he was told. Anyway, the prisoners were in the exercise yard, and they were looking at him – rather as you are now – and he was looking at them – rather as I am now – and he didn’t know how to begin, so he just said, “I’m delighted to see you all here.” But I am, I am delighted to see you all here!

Thank you, Lord Grabiner, for inviting me, and for your kind introduction. I am told Lord Grabiner is standing down as Head of Chambers; but he is definitely not retiring from One Essex Court…or indeed defecting. I want to make that clear as well.

Thank you too to The Times and One Essex Court for organising and sponsoring this wonderful event.

Now, the essay question this year is about AI. I know some of you are worried that AI is coming for your jobs. After the local election results in Cheltenham, I’m not entirely unsympathetic…

But actually, being at the Times Law Awards reminds me that I’ve been in post for a year. This was the first event I spoke at as Lord Chancellor. By current standards a year’s not bad going – longer I’m told than at least three of the last ten Lord Chancellors. And about the going rate for a First Minister of Scotland.

But one of the consequences of becoming Lord Chancellor and being cloistered in the MOJ for a year, is that when there is a defection you find out about colleagues that you never knew existed…

And what a pleasure it is to be back in this extraordinary building. This is the place where Lady Jane Grey was sentenced to death, where Henry Garnet was actually executed as an accessory to the Gunpowder Plot. And just outside, beneath Guildhall Yard, lie the ruins of London’s first Roman amphitheatre where criminals were routinely put to death. To you that may sound like history. To me, it sounds like inspiration for a manifesto. I am joking, that was a joke. Seriously.

The essay question this year is topical. I won’t seek to add to the erudition in so many of these essays. Instead, I want to make a few observations about context: specifically, AI’s place as part of a gathering global lawtech revolution – a revolution in which we can credibly say that England and Wales is at the leading edge.

This jurisdiction has of course, long been fertile ground for innovation. It isn’t by luck, still less sentimentality, or tradition, that English and Welsh common law is used as the basis for over a quarter of the world’s 320 legal jurisdictions. It’s not out of habit that international businesses choose our law to govern their contracts, and our courts to settle their disputes. Nor is it mere coincidence that we have the largest legal sector in Europe, second only to the USA in the world rankings.

The success of our justice system for centuries has been underpinned by its ability to evolve, to adapt and to modernise, while never losing sight of its values and its standards.

And in that spirit, let us not see our current leading position as a high watermark. Let us instead see it as the springboard for further success. We must be relentlessly ambitious to increase our legal sector’s international market share.

We don’t want that simply for the sake of it, although getting one over on France is helpful from time to time! We do it because of what it can deliver for our people and our economy. We achieve that principally on the basis of our people. Our legal profession and our judiciary are rightly renowned around the world for quality and integrity. That will remain, of course, far and away our most precious asset. But increasingly important in future will be our ability to harness new and changing technology.

And what are our competitors up to?

In Singapore, the Supreme Court now uses a digital transcription system to capture court proceedings, meaning that transcripts can be turned around rapidly, including near real time transcription with annotations made by judges during hearings.

And they are developing a generative AI programme to help users of the Small Claims Tribunal to file claims by auto-filling the required forms and advising on possible outcomes and claim amounts, prompting parties to settle earlier or consider mediation.

In India, the justice system is embarking on one of the largest digital rollouts in history, computerising almost 15,000 courts and creating 7 digital platforms to provide real time information on case status, court listings and judgments.

In British Columbia, they have set up an online dispute resolution platform that supports parties to negotiate online and settle their cases without going in front of judges.

There are many other examples. But we should be confident in the ambitious approach we are taking on digital justice.

Last year, with the judiciary, I set out a shared vision for a digital justice system that gives citizens the option to resolve their disputes entirely online. One that harnesses technology – like AI – to guide people in what they need to do and when. And crucially, that clearly sets out all their options, including mediation and arbitration, so that people don’t end up in court unnecessarily. Sometimes the best legal advice is that your issue is not really a legal issue at all.

Meanwhile, we are, I believe, the first jurisdiction to have established an Online Procedure Rule Committee to set standards and govern our digital justice system. This is a genuinely historic step forward – one of the most significant since the introduction of the CPR in 1999.

Of course, all this hasn’t come from a standing start: it builds on the progress we are making in Lawtech, a sector that has grown dramatically in the last three years. The UK has become a global hub for Lawtech and a haven for innovators – supported by LawtechUK, an industry-led programme set up by the Government in 2019.

In that time, it has:

Created a LawTech accelerator to nurture start-ups and support them to access the legal market.

Created a Regulatory Response Unit to make it easier for startups to navigate the complex landscape of legal regulation.

Developed a ground-breaking feasibility study for an online dispute resolution platform for SMEs and so much more…

And take quiet pride that today we are home to some 43 percent of all lawtech startups in Europe.

That is not a coincidence. Lawtech in the UK benefits from a technology talent pipeline, a competitive tax system, a liberal regulatory regime and (dare I say it) Government recognition of the importance of innovation.

And let us also take pride in the fact that we also have one of the most open legal markets anywhere in the world, where any foreign lawyer can practice foreign and international law. As I said to the legal professionals at the Bar Council of India’s Conference in Delhi, which I was delighted to be invited to last year, I said to them that any one of them in the audience could jump on the plane back to the UK and start practising Indian and international law in our country the very next day.

And in that context, is it any wonder that London is now home to more than 200 foreign law firms from over 40 different jurisdictions. I believe, it’s a model for the open, globalist, enterprising country we should inspire to be.

Politicians are pretty good by and large at setting out the ‘what’ – the statistics, the achievements and so on. But I think we spend less time talking about the ‘why’. Why does any of this matter? Why is it important to stay ahead?

First, straightforwardly, of course it’s about the economic benefit, we shouldn’t be squeamish talking about that, our legal services drive prosperity – generating billions for our economy each year, around £34 billion gross value added in 2022 alone. At the same time, annual demand for lawtech products and services in the UK is estimated to be worth up to £22 billion a year – and only likely to grow further, and that’s of course important for the public services that we cherish.

Second, access to justice, so that citizens can vindicate their individual rights. Because a nation of laws must be, of course, one nation of laws – where legal remedies aren’t the preserve of those with the deepest pockets. Tech is our friend here, as we know from our work to digitise the courts system through our modernisation programme. More claims are being made digitally online, more quickly. And our new digital services – including for civil money and injury claims – have been used over 2 million times. That broadens access to justice.

Remember this as well. Many people in this room – people who have worked hard and focused on their practices, will also believe passionately in social mobility. When I was in practice at the Bar, I used to go in my wig and gown to tough inner London schools and do cross-examinations, do mock trials, and so on. And I remember one young man came with me to the Old Bailey, because I’d spotted that his cross examination was truly exceptional. He came to watch a trial and was absolutely transfixed by the whole thing. Five years later I was reminded by his school about him, and he’d won a place at Cambridge to read law. So, yours is a sector that can genuinely change lives.

Third, the rule of law – fundamental to our values as a nation. Keeping our justice system up-to-date means that the rule of law remains relevant as tech moves on. In simple terms, more people are able to use the law to vindicate their rights and to secure just outcomes. That strengthens the rule of law. And, because of our international standing, with litigants from around the world choosing England and Wales, I hope we can reasonably observe that it strengthens the international rule of law too.

That in turn strengthens our position and our voice in upholding the international rules-based order. Let me give you just a brief example. When I travelled recently to the United States, I met with Merrick Garland, US Attorney General, Lisa Monaco, Deputy Attorney General, and Samuel Alito, Supreme Court Justice. And which is the nation that the US turns to as a trusted friend as we grapple with difficult legal issues, such as how to manage billions in immobilised Russian assets – is there a legal route to go from freezing to seizing? Which is the nation with the expertise they very often turn to, and did so in that case? It’s the United Kingdom.

Finally, let me touch on AI. I’m not going to drill into the detail of each of these essays, but one core theme shines out. By and large our winners believed that AI is a good thing – that its promise outweighs its threats. That’s also the Governments position – so there’s the kiss of death for your collective credibility….!

Harnessing the power of AI is, of course, a big priority for Government and the PM – backed by a £900 million fund and plans for a world-leading AI research centre in Bristol, which will make sure the UK is securing its leadership position in AI development.

And when it comes to legal services, LawtechUK, along with the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce and the Law Commission, has and continues to bring together lawyers, investors, technologists, and other experts to explore how Generative AI is shaping the legal landscape – and how we can use it to open up access to justice.

But as our essayists set out, if we’re to harness the benefits, we need to manage the risks. To gain public trust requires transparency, reliable data, and an understanding of how bias can accidentally be embedded – and how to prevent it, as well as protection against cyber security threats.

Again, the UK is playing a leading role with the PM convening a global AI safety summit last year. And we have signed an MoU with the United States, to work together to develop tests for the most advanced AI.

So, let me turn now to those finalists who entered this competition. My congratulations to you all. Your cases were powerfully and engagingly made, and it was a genuine pleasure to read them.

To produce such strong pieces of work, despite myriad demands on your time, says a great deal about your commitment to, and aptitude for, the law. You should all be very proud.

And if the standard of these essays is anything to go by, the future of our profession is bright. I look forward to seeing great things from you in the years ahead.

So, without further ado, let me announce our runners up. I’m going to ask you please to come up and collect your prizes – Jonathan Macarthy, Laura Wilson, and Jay Staker.

Next, our third prize winner is… Maximilian Mutkin

Second prize goes to… Jonathan Stelzer

And, finally, I’m delighted to announce our first prize winner…. Henrik Tiemroth.

And that’s your lot, thank you very much indeed.

May 21, 2024