At the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, attorney general Richard Hermer KC and justice minister Sarah Sackman condemned recent political attacks on judges as dangerous, intentional, and corrosive to the rule of law.
Hermer warned that naming judges in parliament, as done by Robert Jenrick, puts them at personal risk and undermines public trust in the justice system. Sackman highlighted how such attacks are worsening recruitment challenges in immigration tribunals and threaten the UK’s global reputation for judicial impartiality, which underpins its £42.6bn legal services sector.
Law Society president Richard Atkinson noted that threats had forced law firms to shut offices, while Bar Council chair Barbara Mills KC stressed the need for the profession to speak out: “If good people stay silent, the space will be occupied by people who cause fear.”