Holding the Line Against Tyranny and Anarchy (Constitution Committee Report)
Lord Strathclyde Excerpts(2 weeks, 5 days ago)
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Lord Strathclyde
That this House takes note of the Report from the Constitution Committee The rule of law: holding the line against tyranny and anarchy (13th Report, HL Paper 211, Session 2024–26).
Lord Strathclyde (Con)
My Lords, it is a great pleasure to introduce this debate as chair of the Constitution Committee.
Noble Lords will have heard many times politicians and others praying in aid adherence to the rule of law and avowing its importance. Yet very few people seem to understand what it represents and how fundamental it is to our constitution. The Constitution Committee conducted a long and detailed inquiry into the rule of law and published its report towards the end of last year. This was prompted by a sense that the rule of law was being threatened in many parts of the world. We wanted to understand the extent to which we in the UK should also be concerned by that.
It was a privilege to chair the committee during the inquiry, and I am grateful to all those who contributed to it—our witnesses and my fellow members, whose knowledge and experience greatly strengthened the final report, and some of whom are speaking today. I am sorry that time constraints meant that the noble Lord, Lord Anderson of Ipswich, and the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, had to scratch. They played an important part in our deliberations. I mention in particular our excellent secretariat and clerks, who delivered our witnesses, our drafts and good humour, even when we became embroiled in the weeds of the subject.
Over nine months, we received more than 100 written submissions and heard from judges, practising lawyers, the police, journalists and young people. We deliberately sought views from people not normally asked for those views. The result is a report that seeks to provide an accessible evolution to our understanding of the rule of law, as well as to ask whether we are doing enough to preserve and strengthen it.
The rule of law is one of the defining principles of our constitution. It has deep roots in our history, reaching back centuries all the way to Magna Carta and, many argue, beyond. The rule of law is one of the foundations on which both democratic government and personal liberty depend. That is why we subtitled our report Holding the Line Against Tyranny and Anarchy, recognising that the rule of law protects us from both the tyranny of an overbearing state and the mob rule of anarchy. It guards against both extremes.
It is also more than this: the rule of law underpins economic prosperity, facilitating business and trade. In the UK, it contributes to our global reputation, not least because businesses from all over the world choose to have their contracts governed by English law. Given its importance, it is unsurprising that the rule of law is frequently invoked in this House and elsewhere. We proclaim our attachment to it, and we vow to protect it.
But what does it actually mean? The answer is not always straightforward. The rule of law is a slippery concept that is difficult to pin down. It is also beset by complicated academic and political debates about so-called thick and thin conceptions, which differ over whether human rights and international law are part of it. These debates around the definition of the rule of law give the impression that it is a contested idea, but it is deeply embedded as a British value in ideas of fairness, equality and justice.
Some years ago, the noble and learned Lord Bingham made a key set of definitions of the rule of law, on which the committee sought to build. The committee’s view was that the rule of law is perhaps best understood as a culture. People obey the law because they trust that others will do the same. They accept court judgments because they trust the independence and integrity of the judiciary. They engage in business and trade because they trust that contracts will be respected and enforced.
This culture is under strain. Increasingly, people lack confidence in the rule of law. They see increasing amounts of street crime, shoplifting and bicycle and mobile phone theft, but doubt that the offenders will ever be caught or fear that the police will be disinterested in what they perceive to be mostly irrelevant crime. The perpetrators are rarely held to account. Others encounter lengthy delays in the justice system while being faced with prohibitive costs to access legal advice and representation. At the same time, some politicians and parts of the media tell them that judges undermine Parliament and pursue personal agendas. The collective effort is to weaken confidence in the rule of law and the institutions responsible for upholding it.
One area that particularly concerned the committee was the treatment of the judiciary. Judges, both individually and as a whole, have been increasingly vilified in public debate. They are accused of interfering in politics and of deciding cases according to their personal views. This has spilled over into personal attacks and threats to their safety.
These attacks need to stop. That is certainly not to say that discussion and debate of judgment is off limits, but judges should be able to carry out their job without fear of retaliation. Otherwise, there is a threat to the independence of the judiciary. The Government must set the tone in promptly and clearly dismissing misleading information about judgments. They have a duty to defend the judiciary against unwarranted attacks. The Lady Chief Justice in her evidence was particularly strong on the subject, and we agreed with her. I have little time for judges seeking to expand their own boundaries or indulging in judicial activism, but I wholly accept their constitutional independence.
Access to justice is a further essential part of the rule of law. There is no point having laws and rights if they cannot be enforced and upheld. However, we frequently heard about backlogs, delays and difficulties in obtaining legal advice and representation. The Government must take decisive action to improve access to justice and to tackle delays—not the blunt instrument of scrapping jury trials but exploring creative solutions. Technology has an important role to play in realising efficiencies across the justice system such as digitising remaining paper-based processes. Where appropriate, the use of alternative dispute resolution should be encouraged.
We also looked at the role of Parliament. As we all know, parliamentary sovereignty is the supreme constitutional principle, but Parliament also has a responsibility to the rule of law, especially as we carry out our primary role on legislation. Laws should be clear. They should be accessible. They should be capable of being understood by those expected to obey them. Excessive complexity, performative legislation and the inappropriate use of delegated powers all make these objectives harder to achieve. This Government are not the sole Government to be guilty of doing these things. It has happened with previous Governments too, but we should never stop seeking to improve the quality of our legislation and reducing our reliance on delegated powers. We therefore urge parliamentarians to keep the rule of law front and centre when scrutinising legislation—and the Government when drafting it.
The central message of our report is that the rule of law is not just a constitutional principle but the invisible thread that governs our everyday lives. It is most definitely not just the concern of lawyers. It matters to everyone. That is why we should start with children. It should be better taught and understood in schools. This is what enables citizens to challenge power, businesses to invest with confidence, communities to live in peace and democratic government to command legitimacy. These are what count and help to provide stability in a complex world.
We should take pride in the United Kingdom’s long tradition of respect for the rule of law but, as I said earlier, pride must never become complacency. There can be no doubt that the rule of law faces genuine pressures. Those pressures can be addressed, but only if we recognise them and actively choose to defend the rule of law. I beg to move.
Baroness Laing of Elderslie (Con)
My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the honourable—
Baroness Laing of Elderslie (Con)
Oh! I did it wrong again. It is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord and to echo his words about the late Lord Mackay of Clashfern—the very embodiment of wisdom and decency, and a great Scots lawyer. It was a privilege to have known him.
It was an interesting challenge to be a member of the Constitution Committee, which undertook the inquiry on which this report is based. We have already heard from some of the distinguished noble Lords who served on the committee. I not only agree with all their points but thank them for all that I learned while sitting in their company during this inquiry.
It is a widely held misconception that examining aspects of the constitution is nothing more than a dry old academic exercise undertaken by dry old academics. It is not. This was a genuine inquiry. We explored a very wide range of issues and aspects, and we asked questions to which we did not already know the answers. We were often surprised by the conclusions to which we came after having considered the evidence.
Why do this report and this debate matter? I will make three brief points in answer to that question. First, they matter because one of our important conclusions was that safeguarding the rule of law is a shared responsibility. That responsibility lies not only with judges, lawyers, Ministers, parliamentarians, civil servants and public authorities but with every citizen. To maintain a free society, we must nurture a widespread culture of respect for the principles of the rule of law. Although this debate might not quite compete for audience figures with England against Norway—it probably will not even compete with children’s television—I sincerely hope that the fact we are having it is a small step in our quest to create a wider understanding of the importance of our constitutional conventions.
I have seen some excellent examples of citizenship education in many schools that I have visited over the years but, sadly, we discovered during our inquiry that this excellence does not occur widely throughout the country. Perhaps the end-of-term report for most schools on the subject of citizenship education would be, “Must try harder”. I am sure that the Minister will respond that citizenship education is a statutory requirement. Indeed it is, but teachers need more help: they need more training so that we can ensure that lessons are being effectively delivered. The committee’s recommendation at paragraph 246, which concerns helping schools to deliver education on citizenship, particularly deserves to be taken forward by the Government. Giving children an understanding that constitutional principles are the very foundations of our free society is the first step in creating good and responsible leaders for the next generation.
Secondly, the rule of law is not merely an abstract concept or a legal doctrine but the constitutional condition upon which our entire democracy depends. It is not, as some ill-informed commentators like to imply, an impediment to effective government. On the contrary: it is the condition that gives government its legitimacy. At a time when democratic institutions across many countries face increasing pressure, it is more vital than ever that the people have confidence that power is being exercised lawfully, transparently and accountably. The rule of law is universal, and nobody is above the law. The Government are subject to the law, just as any citizen is—as several recent cases heard in the Supreme Court have rightly reinforced. Liberty is secured not by the exercise of power but by its restraint through the law. Let us hope that we do not have to encounter an extremist Government here in Britain. We see extremism growing elsewhere right now. Upholding the rule of law—I argue that having this debate is part of that process—is our defence against extremism. The Government cannot bully the people.
Thirdly, as the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, mentioned in his excellent introduction to our debate, the committee considered Lord Bingham’s first principle:
“The law must be accessible … intelligible, clear and predictable”.
The report expresses concern that legislation has become increasingly lengthy, technically complex and dependent on delegated powers. We are legislators, and we have a duty to hold the Government to account to bring the laws we are making more in line with Lord Bingham’s principle.
Well over 200 years ago, the great William Pitt said that
“where law ends, there tyranny begins”.
I hope that this report and this debate go some way to drawing general attention to that universal and timeless truth.
Lord Strathclyde (Con)
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister and all those who spoke in the debate. I am particularly pleased that the Minister again said that the Government have unequivocal support for the rule of law. I never thought they would not have unequivocal support, but it is good to reaffirm these things. In that context, I very much welcome the noble and learned Lord the Attorney-General to our deliberations; it is a pleasure to see him today.
I was struck, early on in the debate, by something said between the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, and my noble friend Lord Waldegrave. The noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, is a long-term, well-known, political heavyweight bruiser of the Labour Party and, of course, my noble friend Lord Waldegrave is renowned for his intellectual integrity and great skills, and yet the two of them got together on this committee and agreed wholeheartedly with every aspect of this. None of us should be surprised by this, because the rule of law is genuinely universal. It is part of the reason we are here.
My noble friend Lord Blackwater asked why we are debating this subject. We occasionally do need to reaffirm the underlying beliefs of the rule of law and how important they are. That is why I also very much welcome what the noble Lord and learned Lord, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, and the noble Lord, Lord Verdirame, said. They joined this debate, saying that they had not been on the committee but felt moved to do so because we discussed some really important matters that needed to be covered. I am also particularly grateful to noble Lords and noble friends who talked about Parliament and legislation, and for what the noble Baroness said about legislation.
I said earlier that we are all guilty of sometimes trying to rush things through Parliament, but the Constitution Committee and some of the other committees in the House are ever vigilant of secondary legislation and Henry VIII powers being taken inappropriately. We all understand the pressures that fall upon government, but it is important that we safeguard our own integrity.
I will just finish by making a final tribute to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, who sat on the Woolsack for 10 years as Lord Chancellor, Lord Speaker and head of the judiciary. His integrity shone from every pore and I like to think that he too would have very much enjoyed this debate. I am very grateful to all those who took part.
King’s Speech
Lord Strathclyde Excerpts(2 years, 8 months ago)
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Lord Strathclyde (Con)
My Lords, I very much echo the words of my noble friend the Minister and the noble Earl, Lord Kinnoull, and others who have said something about the noble and learned Lord, Lord Judge. I am glad to hear that there will be an opportunity soon for the House to pay a proper tribute to him.
I am delighted to follow the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of York. I was going to follow him also in speaking about devolution, although it would have been of the Scottish variety rather than the English variety. However, yesterday afternoon, we heard my noble friend the Leader of the House speak, and I was so inspired by his words that I thought I would say a few words about something that affects us all, for which all of us bear some responsibility: namely, our behaviour in this Chamber and what we do as a House.
Over the course of the past few years there have been many occasions when we have debated the overall numbers of this House. But I do not think it has been at all helpful to look at those overall numbers. What we should be looking at are the overall numbers of Peers who actually vote. There were 180 votes during the course of the last Session, but only in about 30 of them did we produce more than 400 Peers to vote, and never did those numbers achieve 500—considerably less than the 800 which so many of us complain about. This House is a part-time House. It derives so much strength from Peers being able to do work outside it, volunteer outside it and play an important role in their own communities. For that reason, with this diversity of talent, experience and age, such diversity maintains the quality of the House and I think we should not forget it. My conclusion is that we should complain far less about our overall numbers and look at the numbers in the voting Lobbies to demonstrate our working capacity and our ability to effect change.
That leads me on to the number of government defeats. As I said, in the previous Session we had 180 votes. In those, the Government were defeated 125 times; the Government managed to win only 55 times. That is a loss ratio of 70%. It is too much. I have said before that this House should never become a House of opposition, but that is what these figures demonstrate it has become. Of course we should challenge the working of government by all means, but should it really be so often? How can we, on this side of the House, make the case for restraint on the number of new Peers when every day Members of the Government in another place are faced with that record?
That leads me on to the role of the Cross-Benchers, who play an important part in this House. But I wonder how many of us realise that, during the previous Session, the average Cross-Bench Member voted only 28% of the time in favour of the Government and 72% of the time against the Government. I suppose that we should be grateful for that. I wholly expect that sort of behaviour from the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats, who are accountable for what they do, in a tangential way, through their representation in the House of Commons, but that is not true for the Cross-Benchers, who should perhaps keep a watchful eye on their voting records before people outside this House ask, “What are Members of the Cross Benches for?” A few weeks ago, my noble friend Lord Roberts of Belgravia wrote an extremely well-researched paper criticising, in the Spectator magazine, the right reverend Prelates for their voting records; I would not want him to cast his eye, or his pen, over the role of the Cross-Benchers. This makes it so much harder for those of us who have, in the long term, been great defenders of the role of the Bishops in this House and the role of the Cross-Benchers.
My real role today is to talk about conventions of the House. Yesterday, my noble friend the Leader gave us the example of the Attlee Government, who managed to govern radically and successfully at a time when they had such a small percentage in this House. Out of that was born one of our premier conventions, the Salisbury/Addison convention, which regulates our ability to vote down manifesto Bills at Second Reading—although it does not, of course, stop us from suggesting amendments. A few years ago, I chaired a report on conventions and secondary legislation, and I am glad to say that was unnecessary. But if we are going to develop increased anti-government activism—in relation to any Government—against the elected House, perhaps it is time to look again at these conventions and see whether we should continually, again and again, vote for amendments and send them back to the House of Commons when the Government clearly have no intention of accepting them.
This is a great and noble House, and long may it continue in that manner.
Leveson Inquiry
Lord Strathclyde Excerpts(13 years, 7 months ago)
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The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Strathclyde)
My Lords, I think we should hear from the noble Lord, Lord Whitty.
Lord Whitty
My Lords, there seems to be one dimension that the discussion in this House so far has missed. A truly free press requires diversity of opinion and therefore diversity of ownership. A whole chunk of the recommendations in the report relate to that plurality point. The Government have a great chance. There is a Bill already before this House, the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, in which the recommendations made here on media ownership, competition and plurality could be introduced at this stage. Will the noble Lord and, indeed, the Leader of the House prevail upon their colleagues to consider putting them into the Bill?
Lord Strathclyde
We have only had one Conservative speak so I think it should be my noble friend Lord Elton.
Lord Elton
My Lords, I come back to the involvement of statute. I was 12 years old when the first of the succession of reports on the misconduct of the press was published. I was not old enough to take much interest in it, but I have taken an increasing level of interest in the successive ones. Every report has concluded that the press has undertaken to behave better. I was greatly impressed by the proposals from my noble friends Lord Hunt and Lord Black but it comes down to the fact that if their working is dependent on the press fulfilling its undertakings to behave differently, then I hope my noble friend and his right honourable friend will look at the record before deciding how much weight to put on those undertakings.
Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill
Lord Strathclyde Excerpts(14 years, 3 months ago)
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Lord Howarth of Newport
My Lords, on the issue of parliamentary procedure, is the noble Lord really happy that the first four amendments from this place that the Commons considered had only 26 minutes allocated to them? The House of Commons was allowed fewer than five hours to debate the 11 issues on which this House defeated the Government and offered its very earnestly considered advice.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Strathclyde)
The Motion before the House is that we should deal with amendments that have come back from the House of Commons. If noble Lords wish to have a debate about process and procedure in the House of Commons, they can table questions and debate the issues. This is not the time for that; this is a time to deal with the amendments that we have before us.
Lord Alton of Liverpool
My Lords, before leaving that point, it was the Minister who raised the question of procedure and who said that these matters had been thoroughly dealt with in another place. The fact remains that the issue of mesothelioma, which was quite properly raised by the Minister’s noble friend Lord Higgins, was not debated on Second Reading, in Committee or on Report at all in another place. Had it not been for the amendment that your Lordships passed, it would not have been debated at all in another place. To give it only one hour at that stage and for it again to be timetabled is indicative of the need to reform not this place but, in light of what we heard earlier, the other place.
Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill
Lord Strathclyde Excerpts(14 years, 4 months ago)
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The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Strathclyde)
My Lords, I laid out the position at some length on Valentine’s Day. The statement is recorded in Hansard and can be read by the noble Lord. I was at pains to point out that it is not a decision of the Government but a decision of the House of Commons, and the Speaker of the House of Commons taking the advice of his Clerks, which ultimately decides whether or not to engage in financial privilege. The noble Lord asked me whether he would be wasting his time. I could not possibly say whether he would be wasting his time or not, but if the House chooses to amend this Bill in substantial financial ways, as with any other Bill I would have thought, from a clear reading of my statement and looking at the experience of the relationship between the two Houses over many years, that it is likely to engage financial privilege.
Magna Carta
Lord Strathclyde Excerpts(14 years, 5 months ago)
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Lord Cormack
My Lords, does my noble friend think that the Barons who look down upon us daily from their plinths above this Chamber would be best pleased if, a month after the next general election, they looked down upon a hybrid Assembly with a group of senators in it?
Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, there has not been a question from the Liberal Democrat Benches.
Business of the House
Lord Strathclyde Excerpts(14 years, 8 months ago)
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Lord McNally
That the debates on the Motions in the names of Lord Sugar and Baroness Pitkeathley set down for today shall each be limited to 2½ hours.
The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally)
My Lords, I beg to move the Motion standing in the name of my noble friend Lord Strathclyde on the Order Paper.
Personal Injury Lawyers
Lord Strathclyde Excerpts(15 years ago)
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Lord Strathclyde
I really do not think that the Opposition should have two goes; it is the turn of my noble friend.
Lord Phillips of Sudbury
Will my noble friend please take even more account of the fee-farming industry that has grown up in this country, which encourages indiscriminate and, I have to say, false claims because neither the fee-farming company nor the solicitor who purchases the case from the fee farmer ever sees the client? Without that, there is no constraint on dishonesty.
Courts: Super-injunctions
Lord Strathclyde Excerpts(15 years, 2 months ago)
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Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, we have had 30 minutes and I think we will go on to the next business.
Justice: Judicial Appointments
Lord Strathclyde Excerpts(15 years, 4 months ago)
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The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Strathclyde)
My Lords, we have hardly started. There is time for both noble Lords. Only one of us can be standing up at one time.