Labour’s new sentencing reforms will allow 43,000 criminals to avoid jail entirely, while many others will serve only a third of their sentences. The Ministry of Justice’s “progression model” aims to alleviate prison overcrowding but has faced backlash from victims’ advocates. Shadow Justice Minister Kieran Mullan said: “This Bill is a betrayal of the victims…

David Lammy’s proposal for judge-only criminal trials in England and Wales may save less than 2% of crown court time, according to the Institute for Government (IFG). The IFG report suggests that while jury trials could decrease by 50%, the overall reduction in court time would be only 7% to 10%. Cassia Rowland, author of…

The UK Government has defended a deal to give the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and lease back the key military base of Diego Garcia after US President Donald Trump described the deal as an “act of great stupidity”. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said: “There is no doubt that China and…

Lord Reed, president of the UK Supreme Court, will retire on 10 January 2027. He has served as president since 2020 and as a Supreme Court judge since 2012. Before this, he was a senior judge in Scotland for 14 years. Lord Reed studied law at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Oxford,…

Sir Keir Starmer is pushing for a mutual recognition agreement with the EU that would allow British lawyers to work more easily across Europe by ensuring UK legal qualifications are recognised in member states and vice versa, removing a major post-Brexit barrier for the profession. As part of a broader strategy to align more closely…

Donald Trump addressed a New Year’s Eve gathering at Mar-a-Lago, alleging that $18bn has been stolen in a Minnesota childcare fraud scandal. He claimed that California, Illinois, and New York are also involved in similar corruption. Trump’s comments followed a viral video by Nick Shirley, which accused Somali-operated daycare centres in Minneapolis of fraudulently collecting…