MP,
Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary,
responding to the Lord Chief Justice’s comments regarding the
government’s attacks on lawyers, said:
“The Lord Chief Justice is absolutely right. Attacking
lawyers for doing their job undermines the rule of law on which
our society is built.
“The Home Secretary and the Prime Minister should stop the
divisive insults and issue an immediate apology for their attacks
on lawyers.”
Ends
Note to editors:
Speaking at the Justice Select Committee on Tuesday, the
Lord Chief Justice was asked to respond to “comments made by
members of the government about the role of lawyers within the
justice system”.
The Lord Chief Justice, who is the head of the judiciary in
England and Wales, said:
“The vitality and independence of the legal profession is
an essential hallmark of a society governed by the rule of law.
Lawyers have got a duty to act fearlessly for their clients,
subject always to their overriding professional obligations and
duties to the courts. They shouldn’t be subject to criticism for
doing so. A general attack on the legal profession in my
view undermines the rule of law.”
He continued: “Identifiable individual failings,
unfortunate though they are, do not begin to justify a general
attack upon the integrity of groups of lawyers.”
The Lord Chief Justice’s comments follow repeated attacks
on lawyers from the Home Secretary, , and the Prime Minister, .
In August, the Home Office was forced to delete a video
posted on its official Twitter account referring to immigration
solicitors as “activist lawyers” trying to “delay and disrupt
returns”.
At the Conservative Party conference in September,
used her speech to attack “do-gooders” and “lefty
lawyers.”
In his conference speech, said the criminal justice system was “hamstrung” by
“lefty human rights lawyers”.
Last month, a man was charged with
preparing a far-right terror attack on a firm of immigration
solicitors on 7 September.
