Tory fury at judge who said criticising immigration ruling was ‘unacceptable’

Kemi Badenoch hit back at England’s top judge last night as a row broke out over the right to criticise the judiciary.

Lady Chief Justice Carr issued a rare rebuke to both the Tory leader and Prime Minister yesterday after they disagreed with a ruling in an immigration case which allowed a Palestinian family to gain asylum in the UK through the Ukraine refugee scheme.

Baroness Carr faced accusations she was attempting to ‘suppress’ criticism, while Mrs Badenoch warned her politicians have a right to speak out as ‘Parliament is sovereign’.

The Lady Chief Justice accused the party leaders of failing to respect and protect judges.

Baroness Carr said she was ‘deeply troubled’ by their charge that the immigration judge had made the ‘wrong decision’.

The row then escalated as the Bar Council, which represents barristers, rallied behind Baroness Carr after Tory peer Lord Frost said judges ‘really need to stop being so high and mighty’.

Following the criticisms made in the Commons during an exchange with Sir Keir during Prime Minister’s Questions last week, Mrs Badenoch last night insisted politicians ‘must be able to discuss matters of crucial importance in Parliament’.

She added: ‘Parliament is sovereign. This doesn’t compromise the independence of the judiciary. The decision to allow a family from Gaza to come to the UK was outrageous for many reasons.

Lady Chief Justice Carr (pictured) issued a rare rebuke to both the Tory leader and Prime Minister yesterday after they disagreed with a ruling in an immigration case which allowed a Palestinian family to gain asylum in the UK through the Ukraine refugee scheme

‘This is not just some legal loophole that can be closed, but requires a fundamental overhaul of our flawed human rights laws.’

During the PMQs exchange, Mrs Badenoch said the immigration tribunal decision – which came after two appeals because the family’s claim was initially rejected by the Home Office – was ‘completely wrong’.

Sir Keir agreed ‘it should be Parliament that makes the rules on immigration’ and said Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was working to close ‘this loophole’.

At her annual Press conference yesterday Baroness Carr, the most senior judge in England and Wales, said she had written to Sir Keir and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood to complain about the remarks.

She said: ‘Both the question and the answer were unacceptable. It is for the Government visibly to respect and protect the independence of judiciary where parties, including the Government, disagree with their findings.

‘They should do so through the appellate process. And of course MPs, like the governing body, also have a duty to respect the rule of law.’

Responding to Baroness Carr’s comments, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said politicians were ‘perfectly entitled to comment on decisions by judges’.

He added: ‘This is especially the case with human rights-based cases, where judges have adopted increasingly bizarre and expansive interpretations of vaguely worded ECHR [European Convention on Human Rights] clauses.’

The Palestinian family was allowed to stay in the UK by judge Hugo Norton-Taylor (pictured), who noted the lack of a resettlement scheme for people from Gaza

Responding to Baroness Carr’s comments, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp (pictured) said politicians were perfectly entitled to comment on decisions by judges

Richard Ekins KC, a University of Oxford professor of law and head of the Judicial Power Project, criticised the ‘very ill-advised intervention’ by Baroness Carr.

He said: ‘There was nothing in the least constitutionally improper in the exchange between the PM and the leader of the opposition. Parliamentarians, including ministers, are free to disagree with judgments and to say as much.

‘Neither judicial independence nor the rule of law entitle judges to be free from criticism and the Lady Chief Justice is wrong to attempt to suppress criticism.’ 

The Palestinian family was allowed to stay in the UK by judge Hugo Norton-Taylor, who noted the lack of a resettlement scheme for people from Gaza.

He also backed the claim on the right to family life under the ECHR as the family had a relative in the UK.

Yesterday Ms Cooper said: ‘We’ve been very clear this was a case that we fought, and this is a case that we fought in the courts, and this is a case that we disagreed with, and it’s why we’re looking at the loopholes that need to be closed.’

It emerged last night the Home Office has launched a review of how the ECHR’s Article 8, the ‘right to private and family life’, is used in immigration cases.

Ms Cooper is looking at ‘the application of Article 8 to ensure our immigration rules are respected, as the legislation intended’, government sources said.

The previous Tory government pledged reform through the Bill of Rights Act – drawn up by former justice secretary Dominic Raab to replace the Human Rights Act – but it was abandoned in 2023 under Rishi Sunak’s premiership.

Barbara Mills KC, who chairs the Bar Council, gave her backing to Baroness Carr, saying: ‘Our independent judiciary upholds the rule of law and is an essential pillar of our democracy.

‘All politicians should protect the independence of the judiciary, not criticise the judges who act according to the laws made by Parliament.’

A government spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister has made clear that it is for Parliament to make the laws and for the Government to decide policy.

‘Where the law is not working as we think it should be, the Government will take action to tighten up the rules – and that is what we are doing.

‘As a former chief prosecutor, the Prime Minister’s respect for the judiciary, the role they play in our democracy and the rule of law is beyond question.’