DRAFT JUDICIAL PENSIONS (FEE-PAID JUDGES) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS 2023

Stuart C McDonald Excerpts

Tuesday 21st February 2023 General Committees

[Stuart C. McDonald (Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East) (SNP)]

It is good to see you in the Chair, Ms Nokes.

I too will give the Minister an easy time, and in fact the contribution from the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Stockton North, has just made my task easier as well because he has raised the big question I intended to ask.

The long and short of it is that the regulations are required to implement various judgments and the SNP fully supports that. I also acknowledge the work that has been undertaken with the devolved Administrations, and I know that the Scottish Government support the draft regulations. As the shadow Minister has said, however, the key question is what happens to today’s regulations and the 2017 regulations amended by them as a result of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill? The shadow Minister has said that it could amount to a 43% pay cut for some part-time judges.

Earlier this week, Joshua Rozenberg wrote an article about the matter in the Law Society Gazette in which he raised those same questions and noted:

“These concerns have been heightened by the fact that ministers fought against paying these pensions at every step from 2005 to 2019 — even though the government was advised in 1999 that part-time judges were covered by the EU directive.”

If at all possible, we need certainty about that today—what will be the implications of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill for today’s regulations and the 2017 regulations which they amend?