The Prime Minister’s clarion call to business leaders to ‘back Britain’ has been underpinned by the Attorney General’s message that “the rule of law matters for growth, jobs and people’s livelihoods”.

Government is set to confirm a range of new plans aimed at reducing the use of asylum seeker hotels, which could include use of accommodation on ships and in unused military bases.

The government’s draft Victims Bill is intended to amplify victims’ voices and put their needs and rights at the heart of the criminal justice system.

The Government has announced the next steps in the criminal legal aid review including a Statutory Instrument to be laid in Parliament by 21 July to bring in a fee increase of 15% for the Advocates' Graduated Fee Scheme (AGFS – ie the fees paid to barristers) from 30 September 2022.

To mark Justice Week 2022, the Bar Council of England and Wales has highlighted the number of court closures and is calling for greater investment to help solve the problem.

The Bar Council is calling for urgent political commitment to funding capacity in the justice system, as it launches a new, live, interactive map of key national and regional data on access to justice across England and Wales.

Following the Prime Minister’s comments earlier today, the Bar Council and Law Society of England and Wales have issued the following joint statement:

Responding to the wide range of legislation announced in today’s Queen’s Speech, Mark Fenhalls QC, chair of the Bar Council, said:

New data published today reveals the number of barristers practising full-time in criminal law has declined by more than 10% in 2020-21.

Today the Bar Council has launched a new project to foster dialogue, solidarity and support between barristers in England and Wales and Ukrainian lawyers.

The Bar Council’s response to the Government’s Legal Aid announcement:

It is little wonder that reoffending rates are so high in this country – at around 42 per cent – when the odds of finding a job are stacked against prison leavers.

“You’re safer staying in that abusive relationship than you are trying to get out. The aftermath is 100 per cent worse.” Harrowing words that you’d never think a survivor of attempted murder, rape and domestic abuse would utter. But that’s the harsh reality Rachel (pseudonym) and many other survivors face because of the ugly truth behind our broken criminal justice system.

“Traumatised, forgotten, abandoned.” These are words spoken by victims of domestic abuse, rape and serious sexual assault who are being let down by the criminal justice system - suffering in isolation, scared and often completely unaware of their rights as victims.

Businesses should “come and talk” to the justice department about hiring former prisoners to fill the current shortage of workers, Dominic Raab has said.

At the time of my election in 2019, I viewed being a former police officer as a way of demonstrating that I was someone to be trusted. That trust has been seriously eroded and damaged by Sarah Everard's terrible murder.

The Rape Review didn’t come close to meeting the scale of the challenge in the criminal justice system. We need a tangible, urgent plan to address what has effectively become the decriminalisation of rape in this country.

Coming to terms with our overuse of imprisonment and charting a way to a lower-imprisonment future, could form part of a fitting legacy of the Covid-19 crisis.

In 2002, I was invited to visit a prison in the north-west. Given that it was my first time visiting a prison, it’s fair to say I didn’t really know what to expect.

Whilst there are opportunities for new ways of working, there are also difficulties for some cases and some litigants which could affect the delivery of justice.

If the government is serious about levelling up, it must invest in key local services, of which the courts are an integral component.

The shadow Solicitor General on how the justice system is failing rape survivors, why her passion for politics started at school, and life in a family of MPs

The passing of the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill represents significant progress in the battle against animal cruelty. The law must now be followed up with effective deterrence to ensure justice for all abused animals.

The Ministry of Justice is to remove the limit on the number of sitting days in the Crown Courts in order to tackle the backlog.