Queen’s Speech

Lord Woolf Excerpts

Thursday 12th May 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Woolf (CB)]

My Lords, I am the latest in what I will call the pack of former senior judges who have addressed this debate. I do not propose to do more than to indicate that I agree with everything that they said. On those subjects, I have nothing to usefully add.

However, I feel that I should also mention just one or two of the other speakers who are not members of the pack, but who have also made contributions. I specifically endorse what was so ably said by the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Gloucester about a subject very close to my heart: overindulgence in the use of prisons. On that subject, we also heard from the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, and I particularly thank him for what he had to say throughout his period as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons. Ever since, he has been magnificent in the way he has fought for a very important cause.

The next person I wish to thank is the person who came to the help of the profession. I am referring to the noble Baroness, Lady Deech. As she explained, at the present the time the legal profession has real concerns about its position. The action it has taken is unprecedented so far as I know during my career in the law. I believe it was taken only after it was felt that unless it took action that was inconsistent with the normal practice of the Bar, it would never see the redress that is needed to try to deal with the problems of legal aid and fees for those appearing in the criminal justice system. Criminal justice is extraordinarily important to this country, and our reputation with regard to the quality of the justice we provide is the highest. It would not be of that high level if it were not for the quality of those who do not go in for highly paid work in the commercial field but instead devote their skills to the great difficulty of ensuring the defence of those who are charged, whether correctly or not, with criminal offences. I strongly urge the Government to seek the first possible opportunity to assist in resolving that problem.

One of the great things about our legal profession so far as my experience goes—it is long experience, but not necessarily as wide as I would like—is that most of the time, the relationship between the profession and the Government has been cordial and appropriate. That should be maintained, because more can be achieved in improving the quality of the justice provided in a period when relations are cordial than when another situation exists.

Finally, I shall mention just one matter in order to assist a noble Lord who fell into the difficulty I fell into on a recent occasion. If you do not turn up in time for the opening of a debate, whether you have a good excuse or not, and whether you have caused any inconvenience or not, your name as a speaker is removed and no matter how strongly you protest, you cannot get it restored. If that person had spoken, he would have urged those responsible for the consultation on the Government’s proposal for a modern Bill of Rights to publish a report on the consultation before the introduction of the proposed Bill.