Sir Keir Starmer has been slapped down by the most senior judge in England and Wales for saying it was “wrong” for a Palestinian family to be allowed to live in the UK through a scheme intended for Ukrainian refugees.
The Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr said she was “deeply troubled” and warned the Government must protect the independence of the judiciary.
She has written to Sir Keir and the Justice Secretary over his comments at Prime Minister’s Questions last week.
The PM said on Wednesday that Home Secretary Yvette Cooper had her team “working on closing this loophole”.
The former Director of Public Prosecutions has been criticised by England’s most senior judge (Image: Getty)
The Palestinian family had applied for the right to remain in the UK through a scheme designed for Ukrainian refugees. Their application was refused but they have been allowed to stay after a decision by upper tribunal judges on the grounds of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which protects the right to a family life.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch raised the case in the Commons, saying the tribunal decision as “completely wrong”.
Baroness Carr said she was “deeply troubled to learn of the exchanges” between the PM and the Leader of the Opposition.
She told reporters: “Both question and the answer were unacceptable. It is for the Government visibly to respect and protect the independence of the judiciary.
“Where parties, including the Government, disagree with their findings, they should do so through the appellate process.”
She added that MPs have a “duty to respect the rule of law”.
Richard Ekins KC (Hon) of the Policy Exchange think tank said: “This is a very ill-advised intervention by the Lady Chief Justice. There was nothing in the least constitutionally improper in the recent exchange between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.
“Parliamentarians, including ministers, are free to disagree with judgments and to say as much. Neither judicial independence nor the rule of law entitle judges to be free from criticism and the Lady Chief Justice is wrong to attempt to suppress criticism.”
A Government spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister has made clear that it is for Parliament to make the laws and for the Government to decide policy. “Where the law is not working as we think it should be, the Government will take action to tighten up the rules – and that is what we are doing.
“As a former chief prosecutor, the Prime Minister’s respect for the judiciary, the role they play in our democracy and the rule of law is beyond question.”
