Category: BLOG POSTS
15 September 2025 by Peter Skelton KC
WHAT MAKES AN EFFECTIVE PUBLIC INQUIRY?
Public inquiries have proliferated in recent years. There are currently over 20 underway in the UK. That is twice as many as in 2005 when the Inquiries Act came into force. The four new statutory inquiries initiated so far in 2025 cover a diverse range of subjects: the horrific attacks in Nottingham in 2023 and Southport in 2024, the long-running grooming gangs’ scandal, and the infamous Battle of Orgreave in 1984 in which violent clashes occurred between striking miners and the police.
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10 September 2025 by Rosalind English
Episode 227: It’s been an interesting year in the law, with Richard Hermer KC and the Shadow Attorney General Lord Wolfson of Tredegar joining battle on what constitutes the “thin” or “thick” concept of the rule of law. We interview Lady Hale on her long career in the law, the Law Commission and the Supreme Court. Lord Sumption speaks out on the need to withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights and Freedoms. We have speculations on the Assisted Dying Bill which has yet to make its way through the House of Lords, and an interview with a former barrister of 1 Crown Office Row and now MP on the potential implications of the Employee Rights Bill, also in the Lords.
Of course there are many more episodes to come as summer descends into autumn, but sit back and enjoy a leisurely review of the wide range of topics we have covered since 2025 was in its infancy.
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9 September 2025 by Guest Contributor
Guest Contributor Alice Grant
Rydon Group Holdings Ltd v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities [2025] EWHC 2182 (Admin)
Introduction
In Rydon Group Holdings Ltd v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities [2025] EWHC 2182 (Admin), the High Court dismissed a judicial review challenge brought by Rydon, a developer criticised in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report. The Court held that the government’s decisions, principally the designation of the Claimant as ‘unfit’ to carry out remediation works, were contractual in nature. As such, they were governed by private law and not amenable to judicial review, save under allegations of fraud, corruption, or bad faith. Rydon remains excluded from carrying out the remediation works and is liable to reimburse costs through the Building Safety Fund (BSF).
Factual Background
In the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, the government established the BSF to finance remediation of unsafe cladding and a contractual framework for developers, the Self-Remediation Terms (SRTs). Developers were required to sign the SRTs in order to join the Responsible Actors Scheme (RAS), thereby avoiding statutory restrictions imposed under the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022) and the Building Safety (Responsible Actors Scheme and Prohibitions) Regulations 2023 (RAS Regulations 2023).
By August 2023, three high-rise blocks developed by Rydon, known as the Cable Street Buildings, had reached the funding approval stage under the BSF. In September 2023, Rydon signed the SRTs and joined the Responsible Actors Scheme (RAS). Rydon requested that the Cable Street Buildings be withdrawn from the BSF so that it could undertake the remediation itself. On 28 February 2024, however, the Secretary of State designated Rydon as a ‘Designated Participant Developer’ under the SRTs, thereby deeming it ‘unfit’ to carry out the remediation works.
Rydon Maintenance, a subsidiary of the Claimant, had been the principal contractor of the Grenfell Tower refurbishment. In the Grenfell Inquiry Phase 2 Report, Rydon was considered to have had “considerable responsibility for the fire” through “inadequate thought to fire safety” and poor oversight of subcontractors (at [4]).
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8 September 2025 by Jennifer Zhou
In UK News
The Sentencing Bill 2025 was introduced by the government. The Bill follows a major review into sentencing by former Justice Secretary David Gauke, and accepts the majority of its recommendations. It aims to follow the prison overcrowding crisis through measures including:
- Creating a presumption that custodial sentences of less than 12 months will be suspended (subject to a number of exceptions);
- Empowering courts to give a greater range of community orders, including bans from certain venues and events and ‘restriction orders’ limiting movement;
- Extending suspended sentences to max. three years (up from two years);
- Allowing courts to defer sentencing for up to 12 months (up from six months), so that offenders can demonstrate good behaviour;
- Setting a minimum release point of 33% for standard determinate sentences (down from 40%);
- Allowing foreign prisoners to be removed from UK prisons without first serving a minimum period of custody.
Controversially, the Bill also imposes an obligation on the Sentencing Council to obtain permission from the Lord Chancellor and Lady Chief Justice before issuing sentencing guidelines. This follows a furore in early 2025 over draft guidelines which included wording about an offender’s ethnicity.
The refugee family reunion scheme has been temporarily suspended. Yvette Cooper (who was Home Secretary before a Cabinet reshuffle on Friday) announced that migrants granted asylum will be temporarily unable to bringing partners and children to the UK. The suspension will continue until the government has imposed further conditions on the scheme through legal changes.
Comedy writer Graham Linehan was arrested over tweets about transgenderism, including one which referenced punching trans women ‘in the balls’. The arrest has been criticised by Prime Minister Keir Starmer as well as members of the shadow cabinet. Mr Linehan is currently also being tried for harassment in relation to an altercation with a transgender activist.
In International News
France has issued arrest warrants for Syrian ex-president Bashar al-Assad, his brother, and five other officials regime officials. Al-Assad has been living in Russia since being deposed in December 2024. These warrants relate to the 2012 bombing of a press centre in Homs; French photographer Rémi Ochlik and American journalist Marie Colvin were killed. The bombing is being investigated by the French judiciary as a war crime and crime against humanity.
In the Courts
The Home Office has received permission to challenge a High Court ruling allowing Palestine Action to appeal its proscription under terror legislation. Palestine Action, a group founded by Ms Huda Ammori, was banned as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000. In a judgment dated 30 July 2025, Ms Ammori was granted permission by the High Court to appeal this proscription. Now, the Home Office has won the right to challenge the 30 July ruling. In an unpublished order seen by the press, the Court described the government’s appeal has having ‘a real prospect of success’; it is due to be heard on 25 September.
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29 August 2025 by Jasper Gold
In a recent post, we covered the High Court’s headline-making decision in Epping Forest District Council v Somani Hotels Limited [2025] EWHC 2183 (KB) to grant an injunction preventing the Bell Hotel in Epping from being used to house Asylum Seekers.
In a judgment (currently availably as a summary only) handed down this afternoon, the Court of Appeal have reversed that decision and granted the Home Office permission to intervene in the judicial review to come.
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28 August 2025 by Lucy McCann
In this episode, Lucy McCann is joined by Professor Steven Gunn, historian at Merton College, Oxford to discuss his recent book, An Accidental History of Tudor England (co-authored with Tomasz Gromelski). They explore the world of the sixteenth century Coroners’ Court, examine what records of inquest reveal, and consider about how people died and what this can tell us about everyday life at the time, to draw comparisons with modern day inquest proceedings and coronial statistics.
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27 August 2025 by Rosalind English
This judgment was handed down to parties via email at 3pm on 31st July 2025. A transparency order is in force. The judge has given leave for this version of the judgment to be published on condition that (irrespective of what is contained in the judgment) in any published version of the judgment the anonymity of Patricia must be strictly preserved.
Patricia’s Father & Ors v Patricia & Ors [2025] EWCOP 30 (T3)
This application was brought by the parents and aunt of a woman who has previously been anonymised to “Patricia”. Patricia, aged 25, had lived with anorexia nervosa since childhood, and was extremely malnourished with a BMI as low as 7, unable to walk unaided, and suffering severe complications like bed sores and osteoporosis. Diagnosed also with autism and pathological demand avoidance (PDA), Patricia’s condition was refractory despite years of efforts; she persistently refused to eat enough to sustain herself, though she voiced a desire to live and to travel. In 2023, the Court (Moor J) had ordered—after hearing her strongly expressed wishes—that Patricia should not be force-fed or receive medical treatment against her will, emphasising her autonomy in treatment decisions.
Throughout these proceedings Patricia was an in-patient at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She had said she wanted to go to a Specialist Eating Disorder Unit (SEDU) but when this case started she was not medically fit enough to go to one because of her low BMI and her lack of medical stability.
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25 August 2025 by hrupdateadmin
by Guest Contributor Alice Grant
Epping Forest District Council v Somani Hotels Limited [2025] EWHC 2183 (KB)
Introduction
In Epping Forest District Council v Somani Hotels Limited [2025] EWHC 2183 (KB), the High Court granted Epping Forest District Council an interim injunction preventing Home Office contractors, CTM, from using the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, to accommodate asylum seekers. The Court’s ruling has temporarily halted the government’s repurposing of the Bell, on the basis that the Council had a strong arguable case of unlawful change of use. The injunction requires occupation of the Bell by asylum seekers to cease by 12 September 2025.
Factual Background
The Bell Hotel, an 80-bed premises on the outskirts of Epping’s market town, had been commercially struggling since the Covid-19 pandemic. The Bell had a history of fluctuating uses since 2020, including temporary accommodation for the homeless and asylum seekers.
The planning enforcement team of Epping Forest District Council had repeatedly contacted the Bell from 2020–2022 to make it known that housing asylum seekers was seen as a change of use by the Council, and as such, required planning permission. Without applying for permission, Somani Hotels entered into a contract with CTM in 2025 to accommodate up to 138 asylum seekers. In April 2025, the asylum seekers occupied all hotel rooms, with security and welfare staff present on site. The premises were no longer functioning as a conventional hotel with public dining and event facilities.
The Council drew the Court’s attention to the wider impacts on the local area: protests, pressure on local services and fear of crime among residents. These fears were substantiated by a series of reported crimes involving some of the occupants at the Bell, including arrests for alleged arson, sexual assault, common assault and battery (at [20]).
The Court found that the Bell’s owners, Somani Hotels, had acted deliberately in continuing to house asylum seekers despite being aware of the Council’s view that planning permission was required (at [57]–[58]). Eyre J stressed the Defendant’s conduct was not “flagrant” or “surreptitious”; Somani Hotels had acted openly and in good faith, though with knowledge of the planning risk (at [59]–[60]). In those circumstances, the Court accepted that the Council’s pursuit of injunctive relief under s.187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (‘TCPA’) was an appropriate enforcement response.
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25 August 2025 by Catherine Berus
In UK News
ECHR
Dr. Victoria McCloud, the UK’s first openly transgender judge, has filed an application with the European Court of Human Rights. The application is challenging the UK Supreme Court’s decision in For Women Scotland Ltd v the Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16. Dr. McCloud is seeking a re-hearing of the case, arguing that the initial trial infringed her Article 6 right to a fair trial under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Dr. McCloud sought leave to join the case before the courts in For Women Scotland in light of the impact the ruling could have on transgender individuals with gender recognition certificates (GRCs), but her application was rejected by the Supreme Court. Moreover, no evidence or representations from the estimated 8,500 individuals who hold GRCs was entered in the original hearing.
Dr. McCloud will be represented by a trans-led legal team in partnership with London’s Trans Legal Clinic.
Facial Recognition Technology and the London Metropolitan Police
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has been granted leave to intervene in a judicial review examining whether the use of live facial recognition technology (LFRT) by police complies with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The ECHR argued that the case of R (Thompson and Carlo) v the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis raises important questions of public interest and that the current policy related to the technology is incompatible with Articles 8 (right to privacy), 10 (freedom of expression) and 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the Convention.
LFRT captures and analyses the faces of individuals walking in front of real-time close- circuit television (CCTV) cameras. Biometric data that is unique to those individuals is then compared to a ‘watchlist’ of persons the police are seeking. The EHRC is concerned with the expansion and development of LFRT in light of the lack of domestic legislation that regulates its use. The Commission will make submissions that the technology is intrusive and will highlight the development of international policy on LFRT and artificial intelligence (AI) regulation.
Parole Futures
A new anthology on the future of parole systems, Parole Futures: Rationalities, Institutions and Practices has been published by the Onati International Series in Law and Society, edited by Harry Annison, Nicola Carr and Thomas Guiney. The book includes insights from 27 world-leading experts on the pressing issues about parole systems around the world, including: Asia; Australia, North and South America, and Europe. The objectives of the anthology is to encourage a ‘systematic and critical reflection’ on parole systems, and to introduce ambitious ‘what if’ thinking ‘about the futures of parole and prison release’.
International News
A United Nations (UN) panel of 11 experts—including six Special Rapporteurs—released a statement expressing concerns over escalating intimidation and censorship of Iran International journalists globally. According to the UN statement, 45 Iran International journalists and staff and 315 of their family members have received credible threats to life or safety. Individuals are located across seven countries: the UK, USA, Canada, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, and Türkiye. The increase in threats to journalists over the last year coincided with the Iran-Israel conflict of June 2025, with Iranian officials alleging that journalists were acting as spies for Israel.
UK-based journalists have required police protection or re-location within the UK or abroad. Women have also faced additional threats of sexual violence; while family members have been interrogated, surveyed, and threatened with death or arrest.
The UN argues this is a campaign to ‘silence and censor critical reporting and courageous public interest journalism’, and that such intimidation violates the freedom of expression, media and ‘deprives the public of their right to information’.
The UN is urging Iran to immediately cease the threatening and intimidation of journalists and their families, and to investigate and prosecute perpetrators.
In the Courts
The High Court has granted the Epping Forest District Council an interim injunction which will prevent Somani Hotels Limited from continuing to accommodate asylum seeks at the Bell Hotel in Epping Forest District Council v Somani Hotels Limited ([2025] EWHC 2183 (KB)). The Council argued that the use of the Bell Hotel constituted a material change of use from its classification as a hotel, requiring planning permission, which the Somani Hotels Limited had not obtained.
The High Court acknowledged that the Home Secretary has a statutory duty to provide accommodation, and that this need is growing. However, the ‘balance of convenience’ and the strength of the Council’s case ultimately outweighed the considerations raised by Somani and an interim injunction was granted. Somani Hotels Limited has until September 12, 2025, to comply with the order. There are concerns that other councils may now seek interim injunctions for hotels utilized in their areas. As of March 2025, there were approximately 30K asylum seekers living in hotels.
Catherine Berus | LinkedIn
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25 August 2025 by Alice Kuzmenko
EBB and others v The Gorse Academies Trust [2025] EWHC 1983 (Admin)
In EBB and others v The Gorse Academies Trust [2025] EWHC 1983 (Admin), the Honourable Mrs Justice Collins Rice gave judgment in a multi-faceted, rolled-up permission and judicial review hearing concerning three high school students’ experiences of being disciplined within their school (“the School”).
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18 August 2025 by Guest Contributor
Shvidler v Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and Dalston Projects Ltd and others v Secretary of State for Transport [2025] UKSC 30
By Talia Zybutz
Introduction
These appeals – Shvidler v Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and Dalston Projects Ltd v Secretary of State for Transport – were a test case for the operation of the UK’s sanctions regime introduced in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Supreme Court confirmed that while the court’s task is to assess proportionality for itself, a wide margin of appreciation will be afforded to the executive in judging how best to respond to and restrain Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
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18 August 2025 by Benjamin Savill
In UK news
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has written to the Home Secretary and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, urging ‘proportionate policing and protection of protest rights’ in the ongoing controversy over the Government’s proscription of the direct-action group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. In her letter of 15 August, EHRC chairwoman Baroness Kishwer Falkner raised concerns over recent ‘reports of police engagement in forms of protest that are not linked to any proscribed organisation’, ‘heavy handed policing’, and ‘blanket approaches [which] risk creating a chilling effect, deterring citizens from exercising their fundamental rights to freedom of expression and assembly through fear of possible consequences.’ Baroness Falkner stressed that any ‘restrictions on the exercise of… fundamental freedoms’ imposed by the police must be subject to an ‘established’ three-stage proportionality test, and that ‘all police officers should receive clear and consistent guidance on their human rights obligations in relation to protest.’ On the same day as the EHRC’s intervention, it was reported that Greenpeace, Human Rights Watch, Global Witness and the Quakers had written to the Attorney General, urging him to suspend the prosecution of protestors detained under the Terrorist Act until the judicial review of the Government’s ban on Palestine Action (due to be heard in November). Over 700 protestors have been arrested under the Terrorist Act since its amendment last month.
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13 August 2025 by Rosalind English
The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v YD & Others (Refusal of Withdrawal of Treatment)
The Court of Protection has refused to let a hospital trust in north-west London withdraw life support from a 60-year-old man described as being in a permanent vegetative state after his two partners spoke about his strong belief in the power of spiritual healing.
Background facts and law
The patient, referred to as YD, suffered a bleed to the brain last October resulting in what’s now called a prolonged disorder of consciousness and leaving him in what his clinicians describe as a permanent vegetative state. YD was being provided with clinically assisted nutrition and hydration (CANH) at a specialist neuro-rehabilitation centre in north-west London.
The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, responsible for his care, applied to the Court of Protection seeking permission to withdraw CANH, which would lead to YD’s death. The Trust argued that continuing such treatment was not in YD’s best interests, given the medical prognosis and burdens of ongoing care. The application was opposed by YD’s two partners, JG and MB, who were both closely involved in his daily care and attuned to his needs, and by the Official Solicitor, who represented YD’s interests. Notably, YD’s partners spoke of his strong faith in spiritual healing, his value for life, and his belief in perseverance through adversity.
Best Interests Test:
Central to the Court of Protection’s task was the determination of YD’s best interests under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The statute requires the court to take into account a range of views, including medical evidence, the patient’s own beliefs and values (as far as they can be discerned), the perspectives of family, and the overall balance between burdens and benefits of ongoing treatment.
There is a strong legal presumption in favour of preserving life, which may only be displaced by countervailing factors such as “the very profound brain damage,” absence of pleasure or awareness, and the absence of any prospect for improvement.
Role of Advance Decisions and Family Views
The Court examined whether YD had made any valid advance decision to refuse treatment (which would be binding under sections 24–26 MCA 2005). No such advance directive existed in YD’s case. The views of his partners were consequently given considerable weight—they described YD as someone who valued life strongly, believed in spiritual recovery, and would have wanted to persevere even in adverse circumstances.
Medical Evidence
Treating clinicians and an independent expert testified that YD’s prognosis was bleak: there was no realistic prospect of meaningful recovery or awareness, and he would not regain consciousness. The medical consensus was that continuing CANH would only prolong biological life, with no benefit or possibility of improvement in consciousness or quality of life.
The Official Solicitor’s Submission
Representing YD’s interests, the Official Solicitor argued that the dignity and meaning of YD’s current existence derived from the love and care provided by his partners, and that YD would wish to continue living in this way until a natural death occurred through another medical event (e.g., infection or heart attack).
The Court’s Decision
Mrs Justice Theis, Vice-President of the Court of Protection, refused the Trust’s application to withdraw life-sustaining treatment. In a detailed judgment delivered on 12 August 2025, the court emphasized the following:
• Presumption in Favour of Life: The court found that, despite the medical evidence of permanent vegetative state and the bleak prognosis, the presumption in favour of life had not been displaced by the Trust. The evidence from family and the Official Solicitor about YD’s values and perceptions of his dignity was compelling.
• Best Interests Not Demonstrated: The court concluded that withdrawal of CANH was not proven to be in YD’s best interests. The strong and heartfelt testimony of YD’s partners, coupled with their daily engagement with him, supported the continuation of care. The court was persuaded that YD’s sense of dignity and the meaning of his life could not be presumed to be absent or negative.
• No Valid Advance Decision: In the absence of a legally binding advance decision to refuse treatment, continued life-sustaining treatment was favored
Conclusion
The Court of Protection’s refusal to permit withdrawal of treatment in this case signals the ongoing primacy of the best interests test, fortifies the presumption in favor of life even against a grim prognosis, and puts significant weight on the genuine beliefs and wishes of those closest to the patient. Unless and until a court is satisfied, based on all the evidence, that ongoing treatment is not in the patient’s best interests, life-sustaining treatment will continue.
Comment
This is a surprising and unusual decision. Following the case of Airedale NHS Trust v Bland, where the House of Lords ruled that it was lawful to discontinue life support when it serves no useful therapeutic purpose and does not benefit the patient, the tendency has been to go along with the medical evidence that mere life without consciousness is of no benefit to the patient.
Here the Court of Protection upheld the continuation of artificial nutrition and hydration because of the evidence advanced by the patient’s partners, who cited his spiritual beliefs and the view that he would want to continue receiving treatment to try to “heal himself”. The evidence included declarations of spiritual communication, which led to the Court deciding that withdrawal of ANH would not be in line with the patient’s perceived best wishes and spiritual beliefs.
This is all very well, but as we know, the NHS is running out of money.
The average annual NHS cost to care for a patient in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) in a specialist nursing home is about £85,000–£91,000, which covers nursing care, medication, feeding (such as percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy), and, for some, tracheotomy. Occasionally, additional costs from emergency hospital admissions (“blue light events”) for infections or other complications add roughly £5,000 per year, bringing the typical annual cost close to £91,600.
Not now, or even in the near future, but one day it will occur to cancer patients being denied treatment or sufferers from severe cardiac conditions on never ending waiting lists for surgery that perhaps public money should be spent on them, rather than keeping PVS patients alive for years if not decades.
This will require a root and branch review of the “best interests” test and promote the absence of an Advance Decision to the same level as an Advance Decision not to prolong life. Simply saying that these decisions “should never be driven by resource allocation or staff burdens, but solely by robust best interests assessments” is no answer to the profound and continuing financial burden on the public purse for prolonging unconscious life at all costs.
For a nuanced discussion of the cost consequences of this case, read Alex Ruck-Keene KC’s post on the Mental Capacity Law and Policy blog.
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11 August 2025 by Rosalind English
David Wolfson KC, Lord Wolfson of Tredegar, Shadow Attorney General, and Michael Ellis KC, Attorney General from 2021 – 2022, have written to Labour’s Attorney General Richard Hermer KC regarding the government’s decision to recognise Palestine at the UN General Assembly meeting in September. We highlight this here because Lord Wolfson has recently given an interview on Law Pod UK setting out some of the differences between him and Richard Hermer on what they deem to be the proper boundaries of international law.
They commence their letter with the following statement:
“The recognition of a foreign state is a prerogative act, exercised by the Government. The long-standing position of the UK Government has been that the UK will recognise a state if four criteria are met, often referred to as the Montevideo criteria: ” it should have, and seem likely to continue to have, a clearly defined territory with a population, a government who are able of themselves to exercise effective control of that territory, and independence in their external relations”.
In their view, the position taken by successive UK governments until 2025 was that the Palestinian Authority has been both factually and legally unable to exercise a range of governmental functions in the West Bank,
The PA, they point out, has also, “of course, lost control of Gaza to Hamas”.
They therefore pose a number of questions, as to whether the government is applying a different basis of statehood and recognition, and on what basis.
“If the new policy is that protracted frustration of self-determination justifies recognition of statehood regardless of facts on the ground, why is the UK refusing, for example, to recognise Western Sahara as a state?”
They urge the Attorney General to explain how, as a matter of international law, steps taken by Israel can themselves lead to the non-recognition of Palestine. In this case it would seem to be that by declaring a ceasefire, Israel could avoid the “punishment” of Palestine being recognised as a state. This, in the authors’ view, is an incoherent interpretation of international law – “the Government, so vocal when it comes to public pronouncements of general legal principle, appears to lose its voice.”
They conclude their letter with the following paragraph:
“The position of the UK government in recognising Palestine while hostages remain in dungeons in Gaza is shameful. That is a matter for your private conscience. But we believe that the Government’s policy on this issue is also a significant change from the UK’s policy as long stated and understood. That is something which you ought to explain, in public, to Parliament.”
Whatever your position on the conflict, it is worth reading the letter in full, to understand the UK’s policy on statehood recognition as set out by a written answer in the House of Commons in 1986, and in several subsequent communications.
The response to the points raised in this communication will no doubt add to the warp and weft of international law and its varying interpretations in Westminster. There can be no doubt that policy on this issue is governed not by law, but by politics.
A debate in the House of Lords on this issue would be of considerable utility to all lawyers interested in this area.
The UK Human Rights Blog is now available on Substack – see our profile and subscribe here.
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11 August 2025 by Jennifer Zhou
In UK News:
The first migrants were detained under the new ‘one-in, one-out’ deal with France. The ‘Agreement on the Prevention of Dangerous Journeys’ came into force on 6 August; detentions began at lunchtime that day. Under the scheme, anyone crossing the Channel in a small boat can be returned to France. An equal number of migrants will be eligible under a new legal route to come to the UK. The Agreement, which governs the pilot scheme, will remain in force until June 2026.
The government announced ‘restriction zones’ curbing freedom of movement for serious violent and sexual offenders. Under the new plans, offenders will be confined to agreed areas — a step beyond existing ‘exclusion zone’ measures which simply prevent them entering a location where the victim lives. Restriction zones will be technologically monitored, with prison time as a possible sanction.
The Home Secretary called for police to disclose the nationality and asylum status of criminal suspects. This follows the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl in Warwickshire in July. Police refused to reveal the immigration status of the two men charged, prompting accusations of a ‘cover-up’ from Reform leader Nigel Farage. Current guidance by the College of Policing is silent on whether this information should be released. The College has said that this guidance is already under review.
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