Lord Chancellor and Law Officers (Constitution Committee Report)

Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent Excerpts

Thursday 20th July 2023 Grand Committee

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

My Lords—or should I say “My noble and learned Lords”, given the level of expertise before us? I cannot express how intimidating a group of people noble Lords are, so I ask them to bear with me.

It is genuinely a privilege to have listened to this considered and informed debate and to be able to respond on behalf of His Majesty’s Opposition. I first thank my noble friend Lady Drake for her and her committee’s comprehensive review into the current working of the roles of the Lord Chancellor and the law officers—the first such review undertaken for five years. Her introduction was both direct and comprehensive, and I look forward to hearing the response from the Minister to the vital questions and issues raised by my noble friend and other noble Lords.

We have heard a great deal in the course of this debate about the rationale for undertaking the inquiry in the first place. More public attention has been given to the work, impartiality and propriety of the collective Law Lords in the last two years than there had been in the decade prior. This is therefore both a timely and a valuable report from the Constitution Committee, and the Government should heed its advice if they wish to re-establish the legal conventions that have been outlined throughout this debate and have historically served the Government and our country well.

The Government’s written response to the committee’s report, short as it is, includes an acknowledgment of the importance of the principle of the rule of law and the roles of the Lord Chancellor and the law officers in safeguarding it. The report highlights that it is critical that Ministers act in a way that is suffused with the concept and that they consider it to have primacy over political expediency.

As highlighted by my noble friend Lady Drake and the noble Lords, Lord Howell and Lord Cormack, Lord Bingham of Cornhill previously set out that an important and accepted principle of the rule of law includes the requirement of

“compliance by the state with its obligations in international law as in national law”.

The committee’s report should therefore serve as a valuable reminder to the Government and to our Parliament that the Government’s actions will be watched internationally as well as domestically. It is therefore somewhat disappointing that the government response to the report attempts to argue that

“reaching consensus on the precise components of the concept of the rule of law is elusive, and perceptions will therefore differ”.

I may not be a lawyer, but the confusion around the essential need to always honour international agreements as a component of the rule of law seems to be a peculiar affliction of this Government alone.

The committee notes that in introducing the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill and the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill the Government twice knowingly invited Parliament to endorse a breach of the UK’s international obligations. The committee warns us:

“While parliamentary sovereignty means that Parliament is able to legislate in this way, this does not alter the Government’s responsibility, as the state’s international representative, to ensure to the best of its ability that international obligations are adhered to. As part of this, it should refrain from knowingly inviting Parliament to legislate contrary to the UK’s obligations”.


In light of the Illegal Migration Bill, which is about to receive Royal Assent, will the Minister please apprise the House of how the rule-of-law principle will be upheld going forward? What discussions have taken place between the Lord Chancellor and other members of the Government concerning the country’s potential breach of international agreements? To the best of the Minister’s knowledge, has the Lord Chancellor actively advocated for the need to honour international agreements when discussing current and forthcoming government legislation with Cabinet colleagues and the Prime Minister, especially given the Prime Minister’s role, as highlighted earlier?

While we continue to explore the role of the rule of law, the committee described it as critical that Ministers understood the rule of law’s key principles. The committee stated:

“The Lord Chancellor should fulfil a wider, cross-departmental, role in defending the rule of law and educating … colleagues on its importance”.


Defending the judiciary promptly and publicly from unfair personal or threatening abuse is a core part of the Lord Chancellor’s role. The committee also said that law officers should have

“a wider role in defending the rule of law when issues arise”.

The reality, as has been the theme of many contributions to today’s debate, is that the Lord Chancellor and their law officers do not just need to have the confidence of both the Government and Parliament; they need to command the respect of the wider judiciary. To do that, the very least that would be required is for law officers to publicly defend the independence of the judiciary whenever it is called into question by politicians who do not like a specific judgment. So can the Minister inform the House what discussions are being held with key stakeholders to ensure that the independence and impartiality of our nation’s judiciary are defended when they are attacked in the pages of the tabloid media? Every unanswered and undefended attack on our nation’s legal framework undermines public trust in fundamental institutions. Can the Minister also inform the House what steps are being taken to strengthen public trust in the rule of law?

I have one final point for the Minister. The Government remain committed to producing an updated addition of the Cabinet Manual before the end of Parliament. As we quickly head towards Recess and the days count down to the end of this Parliament, when can we expect sight of the updated manual? I look forward to the response from the Minister.