Judiciary in PM’S crosshairs
BORIS JOHNSON has speeded up plans to curb the judiciary after scrapping a manifesto pledge to hold a commission on changing the way the courts operate.
The Prime Minister is expected to announce next week that he has set up a panel to examine the issue of judicial reviews, which were used successfully to overturn his decision to prorogue Parliament last year.
Mr Johnson believes the courts have become increasingly politicised and are being used to “conduct politics by another means” and wants to define in law what they can and cannot be used to challenge.
The Conservative Party manifesto promised to set up a Constitution, Democracy and Human Rights Commission by December to examine “in depth” issues ranging from judicial reviews to the Human Rights Act.
But instead Mr Johnson has decided to speed up the process on priority issues by setting up small expert panels to deal with each element
Judicial reviews would remain ‘to protect the rights of the individuals against an overbearing state’
individually. Government sources said an announcement on a judicial review panel was expected next week, with the aim of producing a report on how the system can be reformed in the next three to four months.
It would mean changes to the law could be passed early next year to prevent a repeat of Mr Johnson’s humiliating defeat in the Supreme Court last September, which found that his decision to prorogue Parliament had been unlawful and ordered him to reverse it.
The case was brought by the businesswoman Gina Miller, who argued that Mr Johnson had wanted to prevent Parliament scrutinising his plans for Brexit. Two years earlier she had used a similar process to force Theresa May to consult Parliament on triggering the Article 50 process to begin the countdown to leaving the EU.
The Tory manifesto said that judicial reviews would remain “available to protect the rights of the individuals against an overbearing state, while ensuring that it is not abused to conduct politics by another means or create needless delays”.
Dominic Cummings, Mr Johnson’s chief adviser, has been an outspoken critic of the judicial review process, reportedly saying there had to be “urgent action on the farce that judicial review has become”.
In a blog post, he has said that the process of judicial review needs “major reform” and that attempts to curtail its scope will lead to a “mega clash” between Parliament and the courts because it has until now been up to the courts to decide what is and is not justiciable – in other words capable of being challenged in law.
Mr Cummings said judicial reviews, which date back to the 16th century, were a “great blessing” when they were introduced but he now believes the courts have overstepped the mark.
The panel examining the judicial review process will be asked to determine whether Parliament should define in law what is and is not justiciable.
The Government will then respond to its findings before tabling legislation to enact reforms.
Other expert panels will be set up later in the year or next year to examine other legal issues including updating the Human Rights Act, the functioning of the royal prerogative and the ability of the security services to defend the country against terrorism and organised crime.