The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 included provisions to reform the judicial Appointments process.
The reform included the creation of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) which ' selects candidates for judicial office in England and Wales, and for some tribunals with UK-wide powers.'
The appointments process received some recent judicial scrutiny
With Addition 21 October 2025
The UK government has set up a working group on Anti-Muslim Hatred / Islamophobia Definition. The terms of reference are HERE. The group has five members and is chaired by former Attorney General Dominic Grieve KC.
The working group is to advise the
The Online Safety Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023. The Act extends to 241 Sections (divided into 12 parts) and 17 Schedules. Then there is secondary legislation and "guidance". The result is a complex legal framework for UK regulation of the internet - UK Government Online Safety Act.
The commencement process has also added complexity but, by the end of 2025, almost the whole of the Act will be in force.
The government has published an Explainer - HERE. This begins -
According to published government information, in the period 1 October 2024 to 31 December 2024, 489 civil penalties were issued for illegal working, 771 illegal workers were found, and the gross value of penalties issued was £29,200,000. The recoverable value will be lower due to adjustments made following objections and / or appeals.
An employer is liable for a civil penalty under section 15(2) of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 where the employment commenced on or after 29 February 2008. In England and Wales,
LIBOR was the abbreviation for the London Interbank Offered Rate. Money market traders found themselves able to earn money for their bank (and, through their personal pay structure, for themselves) by subtle manipulations of the rate. Very small alterations in the rate equated to considerable sums of money. The process was well described by Alex Bailin QC (now KC) in The Guardian 4th July 2012 The Law catches up with LIBOR
In 2015, Mr Tom Hayes
Over 20 inquiries are either on-going or have been announced (Institute for Government - June 2025).
Just announced is the "Orgreave" inquiry into events at the Orgreave Coking Plant on 18 June 1984 - The Guardian 21 July 2025.
The intention to set up such an inquiry was included in the Labour Party's 2024 election manifesto.
As The Guardian article notes - 'At Orgreave, about 8,000 miners assembled for a mass picket called by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), and were met by 6,000 police officers from forces nationwide, led by South Yorkshire police. The violence that ensued has become an infamous episode in British history, police charging on horseback and hitting miners over the head with truncheons.'
Further details
The injunction was granted by the High Court to prevent disclosure of (a) the release by someone working for the UK Government of a dataset containing personal information and contact details of persons who applied for relocation to the UK from Afghanistan following the Taliban coup in 2021; and (b) the existence of the injunction itself.
It was granted and continued because
As noted in the previous post, Leveson made 45 recommendations which are summarised from page 15 of his report.
The report states that the criminal justice system is in crisis and greater financial investment on its own, without systemic reform, cannot solve the issue.
There is also a need to improve efficiency but no amount of efficiency gains alone can solve all the problems. 'The system is too broken.' The report is to have
Former President of the Queen's bench Division, Sir Brian Leveson, was asked by the Secretary of State for Justice (Shabana Mahmood MP) to carry out an independent review into the criminal courts.
Part 1 of his report has now been published - see Independent Review of the Criminal Courts Part 1 (pdf 388 pages).
In December 2024, the Chair of the Bar Council Sam Townend KC commented that the criminal justice system was in a 'perilous state' and welcomed the setting up of the review but also pointed out that 'immediate, targeted and sustained investment' was required. At the time, there was a backlog of 73,105 cases in the Crown Court and 327,228 in the Magistrates' Courts. This was the result of decades of cuts and severe lack of investment.
Townend further commented - 'To address the multitude of challenges, we need some new solutions, but additional funding is also desperately needed.'
This was merely pointing out
On the 29 July 2024, Axel Rudakubana carried out a knife attack at a children’s dance club in Southport. He murdered 3 young girls, Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice da Silva Aguiar and Bebe King, and injured 10 other people. Sixteen others survived the attack but live with the serious emotional scars.
The Southport Inquiry has been set up to examine the circumstances surrounding the attack and the events leading up to it. This will include examining an overall timeline of the perpetrator’s history and interactions with various public bodies including criminal justice, education, social care, and healthcare, as well as decision-making and information-sharing by local services and agencies.
The Inquiry began formally on 7 April 2025 when the Home Secretary issued the Terms of Reference.
The Inquiry's terms of reference are HERE
The Inquiry is sitting at Liverpool Town Hall.
The Inquiries Act 2005 applies
On 23 January 2025, Radakubana was sentenced for the murders - previous post
With addition 10 July 2025
The Labour Party's 2024 manifesto promised Constitutional Reform in a number of areas. On the House of Lords they said that the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords would be removed. In addition, a mandatory retirement age would be introduced - i.e. at the end of the Parliament in which a member reaches age 80, they will be required to retire from the House of Lords.
The manifesto also promised to
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill was duly introduced.
The Bill was basically pushed through the House of Commons on 12 November 2024 when a "Committee of the Whole House" debated it and Third Reading immediately followed.
The Bill is now at Report Stage in the House of Lords and a considerable number of amendments have been tabled.
Amendment 23 is in the name
This volume is concerned withe redress (compensation) and the human impact of the Horizon scandal.
The Inquiry's website states - 'Moving forward, the Inquiry will continue analysing evidence, drafting the final report, as well as the process of Maxwellisation. This is where, under Rule 13 of the Inquiry Rules 2006, the Inquiry needs to give anyone who is criticised in the report a reasonable opportunity to respond.
The Inquiry is also working to publish exhibits contained within written statements/expert reports as well as any additional documents referenced during hearings.
We will also ensure that, as the Inquiry concludes, there is a comprehensive and well-ordered record of the Inquiry which will be transferred to The National Archives.'
A 7 page summary
With addition 3 July 2025 , 5 July 2025, 7 July 2025, 8 July 2025, 30 July
United Nations human rights experts have raised concerns with the UK government over the proposed proscription of protest movement Palestine Action.
Experts urge UK not to misuse terrorism laws against protest
This is in addition to concerns raised by several organisations including Amnesty International, Liberty and European Legal Support Centre - see previous post 24 June
It is also reported that letters have been sent to Yvette Cooper from the Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol) lawyers’ group and the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers. - The Guardian 2 July 2025.
3 July 2025
On 2 July, the House of Commons voted
See About Al-Haq
On 2nd September 2024, Jonathan Reynolds MP (Secretary of State for Business and Trade) decided to suspend licences authorising the export of items that might be used in carrying out or facilitating Israeli military operations in the conflict in Gaza. He did so
Back in July, Sir Brian Leveson (a former Lord Justice of Appeal) published the first part of his Independent Review of the Criminal Courts...
