What Britain’s fair-minded people want is equality for all before the law, not equality in outcomes. The British public have been equal before the law for centuries, but Labour seems hell-bent on tearing that principle to shreds_Nhy
The famous figure of Lady Justice has long been depicted in a blindfold because justice must be immune to such extraneous things as race, sex and religion.
But that vital British principle is under threat as never before.
Today, the Mail reveals that the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has issued guidance to rank-and-file officers that demands an end to the ethnic disparity in the ‘likelihood of people being criminalised’.
This suggests arrest rates should be artificially engineered to ensure they are uniform across racial groups.
Of course, given crime rates are wildly different across ethnicities and nationalities, this is deeply unfair to groups with low crime rates and risks the safety of the British public.
What makes this announcement even worse is that it follows news that guidelines published by the Sentencing Council last month were suspended last night after widespread uproar.
The guidelines ordered judges to request a pre-sentence report, the first step to a non-custodial sentence, for all women, transgender people, ‘neurodiverse’ individuals, ethnic minorities and those from ‘faith minority communities’.
It turned out that a guilty offender would receive a pre-sentence report if there was a mere ‘possibility’ they were from a minority group. Little wonder the Sentencing Council was warned that its measures would be used as a ‘get-out-of-jail-free card’.
The British justice system is under threat as never before, writes Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick (above)
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been under pressure over the ‘two-tier’ sentencing plans
Supporters of a Pro-UK rally endorsed by Tommy Robinson march from Victoria Station to Parliament Square in central London — October 26, 2024
I personally initiated legal proceedings for a judicial review of this guidance on the grounds that it was discriminatory against white people and Christians.
Staring down the barrel of my legal challenge and under huge pressure from the public, the Sentencing Council suspended its advice. This is an important victory for common sense – and one that no doubt Labour will shamefully try to take credit for.
At the 11th hour, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood vowed to introduce emergency legislation to halt the new measures. This is despite the fact Labour refused to back my Bill weeks ago that would have over-ruled the Sentencing Council and fixed this.
The British public have been equal before the law for centuries, but Labour seems hell-bent on tearing that principle to shreds.
Indeed, Labour MP after Labour MP stood up in the House of Commons to support the Sentencing Council’s ludicrous guidance – arguing the justice system is already two-tier, with minority groups treated more harshly.
Just yesterday, it was revealed that Mahmood’s own department has told judges and magistrates that they should prioritise the cases of ethnic minorities, women and transgender suspects for considering bail because they may be at ‘disproportionately higher risk’ of being remanded into custody.
It advised judges to take account of ‘trauma’ suffered by suspects whose relatives experienced racism or discrimination, and cites ‘important historical events which may have had a greater impact on those from specific cultures’.
Of course, many race campaigners would claim that black ancestors of slaves suffer ‘trauma’ as a result of their relatives’ suffering generations ago.
At the 11th hour, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood (above) vowed to introduce emergency legislation to halt the new measures
Labour MP after Labour MP stood up in the House of Commons (above) to support the Sentencing Council’s ludicrous guidance – arguing the justice system is already two-tier, with minority groups treated more harshly
But let’s look at the facts. There is no body of academic research showing that minority groups are being wrongfully convicted. In the absence of proof of direct discrimination, then, proponents of the new two-tier sentencing rules resort to data showing that minority groups are generally over-represented in prison. The criminal justice system, they argue, should be re-engineered.
This is obviously ridiculous. Certain minority groups, for instance British Hindus and Sikhs, are less likely to go to jail than their white British counterparts – but nobody sensible is suggested treating them more harshly. What the fair-minded British public want is equality of treatment before the law, not equality in outcomes.
But Starmer’s government will not deliver this. It is in thrall to the Sentencing Council, a powerful but little-known organisation that was created in the final breaths of the last Labour government.
Since its creation, it has watered down legislation passed by Parliament time and again.
Last week, I revealed how their new draft guidelines for immigration offences water down sentences and mean hundreds of foreign offenders and illegal migrants a year will miss the threshold for automatic deportation.
This would blow a hole in border enforcement and help dangerous foreign criminals stay in the country. This activism must end. The open-borders campaigners on the council must be sacked by the Justice Secretary. If legal quangos step into the political arena, they should expect a political response and democratically elected politicians to reassert authority.
But as I have said, the problems within our judiciary go far beyond the Sentencing Council.
We have reached a high-water mark of activism in our courts, where the principle of the rule of law has been misused and hijacked in favour of the rule of lawyers.
Starmer’s government will not deliver equality of treatment before the law, says Robert Jenrick
Our immigration tribunals have become a sick joke. Even the most ludicrous excuses now stop deportations.
A judge recently displayed huge over-reach by essentially turning a scheme for Ukrainian refugees into one that could apply to would-be migrants around the world. The limits that our elected politicians had purposely placed on the legislation were deliberately removed.
When Keir Starmer and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch criticised this, they were reprimanded by the judiciary and told their statements were ‘unacceptable’.
This is dangerous: politicians must always be allowed to discuss matters of crucial public importance in Parliament. And doing so cannot be held to compromise the independence of the courts.
The fabric of our country is fraying thanks to unprecedented levels of mass migration and the denigration of British culture that seems to come with it. A two-tier legal system that is biased is not only deeply unfair, but also a recipe for further social unrest.
Growing up in the Midlands in the 1980s, I saw discrimination and the pain it caused. Despite the progress made, there is more to do. But the way to correct this injustice is to treat people with equal dignity, not to ladle on yet more discrimination.
Two wrongs don’t make a right. We must rebuild our nation and our sense of national togetherness as one country under one flag. And that begins by every citizen being equal under the law.
