Blog: 1 July 2022 - Helen Edwards, LLG President

By now you can’t have missed the Bill of Rights Bill, which started in the House of Commons with its first reading on 22^nd June 2022. Its long title is ‘A Bill to reform the law relating to human rights’. Forget the how, it’s the why which needs exploring.  

When the Justice Secretary announced the Bill, LLG were very disappointed. Despite its name, and the claims made for it, the Bill actually weakens human rights. The opening statement on Gov.uk states that: “The Bill will ensure courts cannot interpret laws in ways that were never intended by Parliament and will empower people to express their views freely.”

Judge-made law is a fundamental part of a legal system based on common law, and any democratic government must be fully accountable to legal scrutiny. We cannot support any Bill that seeks to increase the rights of government at the expense of the rights of its citizens. 

There is, as you would expect, plenty of agitated commentary within the sector. What remains unclear is how successful those seeking to oppose the changes might be. Certainly, debate in the House of Lords will be one to watch closely and LLG will continue to raise concern where appropriate, as the Bill moves through the Commons.  

In other news our LLG Governance Conference 2022 has now launched for bookings following the success of our Spring Conference. The Governance Conference will take place in person on 11^th November 2022 at the Edgbaston Park Hotel in Birmingham with the second day being held remotely on the 18^th November 2022. Hybrid places are available for the 11^th November 2022 and if you book before 5pm on the 5^th August 2022 you will receive a £75 discount on your package.

There is also a bespoke package for our Junior Lawyers with an additional pre-conference meeting and ‘meet and greet coffee break’ on the day of the conference to enable our members with less than 5 years ‘pqe’ to network and obtain contacts. I very much hope you will join us for the conference and look forward to seeing as many of you as I can on the day.  

Best Wishes  

Helen Edwards 

LLG President