The Daily Mail today joined UKIP leadership hopeful Suzanne Evans in calling for judges to be subject to public oversight following last week’s controversial Article 50 ruling. The row over judicial independence continued to rumbled on after a febrile weekend in which it embroiled both lord chancellor Liz Truss and prime minister Theresa May.
On Friday Truss came under intense pressure to speak out from lawyers infuriated by her silence in the wake of incendiary press attacks in the pro-Brexit press on the lord chief justice, master of the rolls and Sales LJ. They were dubbed ‘Enemies of the People’ on the Mail’s front page.
Truss broke her silence on Saturday after the Bar Council passed a resolution calling on the lord chancellor to condemn the attacks.
The resolution read: ‘The Bar Council of England and Wales condemns the serious and unjustified attacks on the judiciary arising out of the Article 50 litigation. It regrets the lack of public statement by the lord chancellor condemning these attacks and calls upon the lord chancellor to do so as a matter of urgency. A strong independent judiciary is essential to a functioning democracy and to upholding the rule of law.’
Other critics were more outspoken. On Twitter, PJ Kirby QC of commercial set Hardwicke accused Truss of ‘failing to honour her oath or perform her statutory duties’.
Truss’s statement read: ’The independence of the judiciary is the foundation upon which our rule of law is built and our judiciary is rightly respected the world over for its independence and impartiality.
’In relation to the case heard in the High Court the government has made it clear it will appeal to the Supreme Court. Legal process must be followed.’
Truss’s statement was condemned as ’too little, too late’ by shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon and it did not placate all her lawyer critics. The Criminal Bar Association described it as ‘wholly inadequate and confused’.
The lord chancellor issued another statement on Saturday night defending LCJ Lord Thomas after former UKIP leader Nigel Farage said Thomas should have recused himself from the case over his links with the European Law Institute. Truss described Lord Thomas as a ‘man of great integrity anf impartiality’, adding: ‘Like all judges, he has sworn an oath to administer the law without fear or favour, affection or ill will.’
The prime minister, meanwhile, defended the right of the judges to issue their ruling but failed to condemn the press attacks. She told reporters: ‘I believe in and value the independence of our judiciary; I also value the freedom of our press. These both underpin our democracy.’
The Daily Mail remains on the offensive this morning, interpreting May’s comments as backing the press and accusing the ‘liberal elite’ of ‘pompous humbug’ in its leader column.
The leader describes the judiciary as a ‘virtual closed shop’, with Supreme Court judges ‘largely selected by their peers’.
It adds: ‘Calls for public hearings to guage candidates’ views and any political leanings – as happens in the US – have been resisted. Isn’t it time for a change?
’Surely if judges have allegiances which may affect their decisions, the public has a right to know.’
UKIP’s Evans, meanwhile, accused the High Court of overriding the ’will of the British people’ by ruling there must be a vote in parliament.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ’I think there is a debate to be had about whether or not judges should be subject to some kind of democratic control.’
Evans said she was ’not saying we should get rid of judges’ but was ‘questioning the legitimacy of this particular case’.
Evans’ comments were branded ’irresponsible’ by Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer, former director of public prosecutions. He said: ’Some of us have worked in countries where judges do as governments tell them and we know that is highly corrosive of the rule of law and democracy.’
Unrepentant Mail demands 'public hearings' for judges as Brexit row rumbles on
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