The fourth panel from our 2022 conference, The State of the Constitution.
The 2019 Conservative manifesto promised to review the relationship between government, parliament and the courts. In particular, ministers had concerns about the growth of judicial review. Since then, there have been consultations on judicial review and the Human Rights Act, the Judicial Review and Courts Act has reached the statute book, and the government has proposed a new Bill of Rights. Simultaneously, some detect a ‘chilling’ effect on the courts. So, in the third year of the Johnson premiership, how much rebalancing has taken place, and what might still lie ahead?
Speakers
Joanna Cherry QC MP – Scottish National Party MP for Edinburgh South West and former party spokesperson on Justice and Home Affairs
Sir Bob Neill MP – Conservative MP for Bromley and Chislehurst, and Chair of the Commons Justice Committee
Helen Mountfield QC – barrister and Principal of Mansfield College, University of Oxford
Martha Spurrier, Director, Liberty
Chair: Joshua Rozenberg QC (Hon) – legal commentator and journalist