Thursday 29 November 2012

The lord chancellor has refused calls to reconsider cuts to judicial pensions. Chris Grayling told the Lords constitution committee last week that exempting judges from austerity would 'make them the target of public hostility'. Grayling also rebuffed peers' calls for a statutory duty on the lord chief justice to create a more diverse judiciary, saying this was unnecessary.

He said he would be happier to see 'continuous… year-on-year improvement' rather than a target. 'We have too much law in this country and my instinct is not to legislate unless you have to,' he said.