Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Ministry of Justice

Oral Answers to Questions

John Robertson Excerpts
Tuesday 3rd February 2015

(9 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Chris Grayling Portrait Chris Grayling
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We all condemn such a horrendous act and extend our best wishes and condolences to the victim’s family. The allocation of cases is and will always be a matter for the judiciary, and there are sometimes good reasons for their picking the locations that they do, as it is in the interests of justice to do so. I know the Lord Chief Justice well. He is deeply sensitive to the issues that victims face, and I am sure he will look thoughtfully at the letter that my hon. Friend sends him.

John Robertson Portrait John Robertson (Glasgow North West) (Lab)
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T2. Lord Lexden, the official historian of the Conservative party, has attacked the Lord Chancellor, saying: “Britain must have a Lord Chancellor who puts his duty to the law above party politics.”Why did he say that?

Chris Grayling Portrait Chris Grayling
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I believe it is the job of the Lord Chancellor not only to uphold the law but to change it where it is necessary to do so. The reforms of judicial review are necessary, measured and proportionate. They are reforms that were argued for by Ministers in the previous Government, but of course they never did anything about it.