Online safety for under 16s

On Monday 16 February, the Prime Minister's Office (10 Downing Street) announced that the 'Government will give parents and carers greater clarity and support as the Prime Minister announces immediate action to make the online world safer for children' - read the announcement. 

Notes to editors inform us that:

Local government elections May 2026

On Monday 16 February it was announced by the government that plans to postpone various elections had been reversed and the elections would now proceed in May 2026.  The reversal was brought about following a legal challenge brought by Reform UK. 

It appears that the government took legal advice relating to the challenge and decided not to actually contest the matter in court. Details of that legal advice are not available and so we do not know the exact basis for the government's decision. 

Some items of interest

Readers may be interested in reading the following articles .....

1. The Secret Barrister 5 February 2026 - Palestine Action - What just happened - ' ... six Palestine Action protestors were acquitted by a jury of aggravated burglary, following a break-in at an Elbit Systems UK factory near Bristol in August 2024. Three of the six were also acquitted of violent disorder, while no verdict was reached in relation to three others. The jury were also unable to reach verdicts on a charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent (against one defendant, accused of striking a police officer in the back with a sledgehammer, causing serious injury), and charges of criminal damage.'

2. Administrative Court blog 13 February 2026 - High Court - proscription of Palestine Action unlawful and Palestine Action: The "purpose" of the Home Secretary's proscription policy

3. Public Law for Everyone 13 February 2026 - The High Court's judgment in the Palestine Action case

4. Human Rights Watch 7 January 2026 - Silencing the Streets - The right to protest under attack in the United Kingdom and also see their World Report 2026

5. UK Constitutional Law Association Blog -  

Palestine Action ~ judicial review

On 13 February 2026, the High Court handed down judgment The King (on the application of Huda Ammori) v Sceretary of State for the Home Department [2026] EWHC 292 (Admin).

On 5 July 2025 the Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2025 ("the Order") came into force. The Order was made on 4 July 2025, having been laid before Parliament by the Home Secretary on 30 June 2025, approved by the House of Commons on 2 July 2025 and by the House of Lords on 3 July 2025. 

The Order added the names of three organisations to the list of proscribed organisations at Schedule 2 to the Terrorism Act 2000 ("the 2000 Act"). 

One of those organisations was Palestine Action. 

Motion for a Return (Humble Address) - 4 February 2026

Some readers will doubtless recall that in 2017 the House of Commons wished to have sight of "Sectoral Impact Assessments" prepared by the government in connection with the process of the UK leaving the European Union (EU) - previous post 1 November 2017.

An Opposition Motion was put forward by Sir Keir Starmer MP - 

"That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, That she will be graciously pleased to give directions that the list of sectors analysed under the instruction of Her Majesty's Ministers, and referred to in the Answer of 26 June 2017 to Question 239, be laid before this House and that the impact assessments arising from those analyses be provided to the Committee on Exiting the European Union."

On Wednesday 4 February 2026, an Opposition Motion - (this time by the Conservative Party) - sought a further Humble Address so that the House could see all papers relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as His Majesty’s Ambassador to the United States of America.

Hansard informs us that the following was resolved - 

Leveson Part 2 - Efficiency

Part 2 of Sir Brian Leveson's Review of the Criminal Courts has been published. You can read it HERE.

Part 1 was published in July 2025 - previous post and HERE.

Addition 6 February 2026 - Joshua Rozenberg - Jury reforms within weeks 

 

Public Office (Accountability) Bill - Misconduct in Public Office

Currently before Parliament is the Public Office (Accountability) Bill. 

The Bill is now at Report Stage in the House of Commons. The text of the Bill is HERE.

This post is a brief look at Part 3 of the Bill which is headed Misconduct in Public Office. 

Clause 12(1) - will create a new offence ...

The Epstein files

Revelations about the late Jeffrey Epstein (1953 - 2019) and his involvement with various individuals continue to emerge as files are released by the USA Department of Justice - see BBC Takeaways from the Epstein Files where it is stated that 'three million pages, 180,000 images and 2,000 videos were posted publicly on Friday' (30 January). 

The release of documents came six weeks after the department missed a deadline signed into law by US President Donald Trump that mandated all Epstein-related documents be shared with the public. 

One notable individual referred to in the files is the politician Lord Mandelson. 

Northern Ireland Troubles Bill - a note

10 April will be the 28th anniversary of the 1998 Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. There has been substantial peace in Northern Ireland since then but various "legacy issues" continue to cause problems. The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 was an attempt to deal with those problems.

The Labour government (in power since July 2024) has brought forward the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill which, if enacted, will repeal Part 2 of the 2023 Act.  

Clause 1 of the Bill states -

Juries - government proposals - evidence to Justice Committee

' ....  trial by jury – an age-old and revered cornerstone of the criminal justice system ....

The controversial and misconceived government proposal to remove trial by jury from the majority of Crown Court trials was the subject of an earlier post - 27 November 2025.

His Honour Judge Geoffrey Rivlin KC has given written evidence to the House of Commons Justice Committee. I urge all readers to look at his letter and to oppose these unnecessary government proposals. Judge Rivlin's evidence is persuasive and speaks for itself. There is no need for any blog to offer a summary. 

The backlog of Crown Court cases is NOT - repeat NOT - brought about by the need for juries. It arises because of serious under-funding of the court system over almost 20 years. Every day many of the available court rooms are not in use.

Written evidence to Justice Committee January 2026

Justice Committee

Find your MP 

Removal of Chief Constables ~ a brief note

Updated 16 January 2026.

Almost 11 years ago, ObiterJ wrote a number of posts about Police and Crime Commissioners - e.g. this post of August 2015 touched on the power of PCCs to either suspend or dismiss Chief Constables. The power is in section 38 of the  Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011. The power under section 38 is limited to Police Forces outside London and different arrangements apply to the Metropolitan Police.

Schedule 8 to the 2011 Act is important because, to suspend or remove a Chief Constable, PCCs are required to follow the process set out therein.

At the time of writing there is a row (involving the Home Secretary) over Craig Guildford the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police. The Home Secretary (Shabana Mahmood MP) has said that she has 'lost confidence' in him and there are calls from politicians and in the media for him to resign which would, of course, avoid the process set out in Schedule 8.  This Guardian article sets out more detail.

Police Forces are supposed to have operational independence from central government but it seems plain, at least to me, that the present government does not embrace this idea. I fully expect that Shabana Mahmood will seek to amend the law .....

Let's see how this plays out ..... 

Guildford resigned on 16 January 2026 - BBC News 

Law notes - The law and human sexuality

Sex and the law is a topic that is inevitably risque and, at times, controversial but it is one worth examining. The following are essentially notes and do not purport to be a comprehensive examination of this topic.

Criminal law: 

The criminal law contains a considerable number of sexual offences - e,g, see Crown Prosecution Service (Sexual Offences). 

Historically,it was generally understood that the criminal law presumed that a husband could not be guilty of raping his wife. This came to an end

Venezuela ~ action by the USA ~ a brief note

Updated 8 January 2026 / 9 January 2026

After apparent months of planning, the USA acted unilaterally to arrest Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife. They have since appeared in a Manhattan court and have entered not guilty pleas to a number of charges including drug trafficking. 

Those events led to the UK Home Secretary (Yvette Cooper MP) making a statement in the House of Commons. Cooper noted that successive UK governments have refused to recognise the government of Venezuela and she stated -

Rights of prisoners - Fuad Awale

Fuad Awale (pictured) was convicted in January 2013 of the execution-style shooting of two teenagers and received a life sentence with a minimum term of 38 years. Subsequently, he was sentenced to a further six years for threatening to kill a prison officer.

Media reports (e.g. HERE) around the Christmas period commented - 'Double murderer wins compensation payout over human rights breaches in prison.' 

To find out the details it is necessary to look at the actual High Court decision - actually back in 2024.

The King (on the application of Fuad Awale) v Secretary of State for Justice [2024] EWHC 2322 (Admin).

Awale described himself