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Supreme Court

My Lords, it is my privilege from these Benches also to welcome the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, to his new position. I am sure that we shall be in discussion on many issues. I have always been impressed by his grasp of whatever brief he has taken up, and I am particularly impressed by the principles he courageously displayed in taking an adverse position to that of the Government at a later date. We have a real champion there; I am sure that he will fulfil some of the aspirations of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope, in terms of fighting for funds and so on. The noble Lord, Lord Norton, referred to the increasing conflict between the Executive and the courts; he said that relations were increasingly strained. I agree. The tension has increased for two reasons. First, there have been unprecedented attacks on the judiciary by Ministers—one has only to think of some of the comments aimed at decisions of judges. Those comments were ill informed and would in a previous age have been regarded as outrageous. The second cause of strain is from the increasing use of judicial review, which has required the Executive to have to explain themselves and their decisions to judges. Adverse decisions by those judges always seem to be taken very hard by the Ministers concerned. The noble Lord, Lord Norton, thought that a move to the new building across the road would make the court more isolated. I should prefer to say that it will make it more independent. It will be seen to be much more independent of the Executive than if we continued with the arrangements in this House. That independence has been demonstrated in ways that I applaud. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Howe, does not applaud them but I think that it is very good to have the appointments of judges taken away from politicians and the Lord Chancellor, who had a political role, and put in the hands of a commission. I was pleased that the Prime Minister announced yesterday that any remaining link with political appointments will be removed. I also welcome yesterday’s Statement about the position of the Attorney-General. It is wrong to regard the Attorney-General’s role as it has been exhibited in recent years at least as the final apotheosis of that position. In recent years, the essential conflict between a person who advises the Government and acts independently in the public interest has been only too clearly demonstrated. I am glad that independence of the judiciary and the legal system are on the agenda. It is said that it is only a question of perceptions—that it is symbolic—to move across the road. One of the fine buildings in Washington is the Supreme Court; that symbolises the importance of the judiciary. In Australia, the High Court is in a wonderful modern building that demonstrates its independence of the executive in a very real way. Those are federal systems. It is significant that the Supreme Court will take over devolution issues from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. In dealing with devolution issues, there may well be conflicts between the Welsh Assembly, the Scottish Parliament, the Northern Ireland Parliament and this Parliament in Westminster. It is surely appropriate that conflicts of that nature should be decided in a completely different building that symbolises independence. I disagree with the method of funding in the Government’s proposals. It is astonishing that civil litigants are required to pay through increased fees for such a building. What has the ordinary run of civil litigation got to do with the numerous cases that come before the House of Lords? Civil cases must be a fairly small percentage; I would only be guessing if I gave a figure. So much of the business of the Judicial Committee—devolution issues, issues concerning criminal matters and so on—are nothing to do with civil litigation, yet the system is apparently designed so that it is paid for in that way. We have heard of the practical problems from the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope, and we know that there is a long way to go before the building is complete. I look forward to it and I hope that we have a building of which we are proud, and a building of which we are as proud as we are of our independent judiciary and of the Lords of Appeal, who are the apotheosis of that system.