A Ministry perhaps, but Justice?

Geoffrey Bindman (London, BIHR): Gordon Brown has praised the golden thread running through British history of the free individual, standing firm against tyranny and defending the human rights of others. Inextricably tied into this thread is equal access to justice. When it comes to this, two outgoing Ministers, John Reid at the Home Office and the Prime Minister, declared the need to dissect the Home Office into two and create a “Ministry of Justice”. This move also abolishes the Department of Constitutional Affairs. The creation of such a new Ministry would seem to demand careful thought and preparation. Yet the changes were announced by Mr Reid on 29 March and, without any public consultation or even a parliamentary debate, were implemented on 9 May. A few days before I was told by a senior official involved that it was not clear whether after 9 May the office of Lord Chancellor would still exist and if so whether it had any continuing functions. Lord Falconer, who until 9 May was Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, became on that date Secretary of State for Justice. Apparently he remains Lord Chancellor, but that ancient office after nearly 1000 years is reduced to little more than a figment of the imagination. But the important questions about the reform of judicial administration are not about the fate of a medieval office which simply symbolises the impact on the independence of the judiciary. Section 1 of the 2005 Act declared that the Lord Chancellor’s constitutional role in relation to the rule of law was preserved: he and other ministers were under a duty to uphold the independence of the judiciary and ensure judges were adequately supported. But can a Minister of Justice, with added responsibilities for prisons and probation, safeguard the integrity and independence of the court service and the judiciary? It is hard to see the new Minister of Justice as any kind of bridge between the executive and the judiciary as he is so firmly lodged within the executive camp. Has a crucial filament of the golden thread of liberty been snipped?