I am wondering if I can pursue a personal injury claim against the Prime Minister. This is for injuries suffered by my chin as it hit the floor this morning during his excruciating speech about Rwanda.
Enough has
been said about the scheme itself. What caused my facial injury was this –
‘To deal
with any legal cases quickly and decisively, the judiciary have made available
25 courtrooms and identified 150 judges who could provide over 5,000 sitting
days.’
Are we allowed to ask which
member of the judiciary has achieved this miracle?
The court system in
this country is in chaos. In April 2023 the Law Society reported –
‘The
continuing lack of progress to reduce the backlog makes it unlikely the
government will achieve its target of cutting the number of cases waiting to
come to court to 53,000 by March 2025’
Government
set to miss target to reduce courts backlog | The Law Society
Some victims of crime wait many years for their case
to come to trial. A few weeks ago, the Senior Presiding judge, Lord Justice
Edis said that there were 3355 rape cases awaiting trial and that 6% of these
cases were ‘very old’.
He described this as –
"an
unacceptable state of affairs from the point of view of the complainants, the
witnesses, the defendants, and justice generally",
We can add to this those caught up in other area of criminal work. It is a shambles.
And it is not a new problem. As long ago as 2019
I wrote about the number of courts that were sitting empty die to a lack of resources
–
And of course there are the family and civil courts!
And then today we hear that we suddenly have 5000 sitting days available
– not to give closure to the victims but to enable the beleaguered Prime
Minister to get some planes off the ground. Where have they come from? Where they there all time warming the bench like a surplus Man City player? Or did the magic money tree come up with the goods?
Enough really is enough.
We have a Lord Chancellor – Alex Chalk MP. He has
sworn an oath as follows –
“I, , do swear that in
the office of Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. I
will respect the rule of law, defend the independence of the judiciary and
discharge my duty to ensure the provision of resources for the efficient and
effective support of the courts for which I am responsible. So help me God.”
It is not a duty to secure
the political aims of a politician. If extra funds are available to secure what
many see a gimmick, then surely funds can be made available to help victims of
crime.
