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Britain's top judge concerned by May's attack on immigration judges, cuts to legal aid

Summary

Lord Neuberger says Home Secretary's comments were inappropriate and wrong, and says he fears cuts to legal aid could undermine the rule of law

By EIN
Date of Publication:
05 March 2013

President of the Supreme Court, Lord Neuberger, has said that Theresa May's recent strongly-worded criticism of immigration judges was "inappropriate, unhelpful and wrong", the Daily Telegraph reported.

"I'm concerned about it because I think it's inappropriate and unhelpful for ministers to attack individual judges or groups of judges," Lord Neuberger told the Telegraph

Lord Neuberger said ministers' criticisms were unfair on judges who "don't speak out in public against ministers".

Meanwhile, in an interview with the BBC, Lord Neuberger said he fears cuts to legal aid could undermine the rule of law.

Lord Neuberger told the BBC: "My worry is the removal of legal aid for people to get advice about law and get representation in court will start to undermine the rule of law because people will feel like the government isn't giving them access to justice in all sorts of cases.

"And that will either lead to frustration and lack of confidence in the system, or it will lead to people taking the law into their own hands."

BBC Radio 4's Law in Action will have more from Lord Neuberger today at 4pm http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r0gj8