Weekly roundup of Scots Law in the headlines including Angela Constance and David Lammy under pressure — Monday December 8

This week's review of all the latest headlines from the world of Scots Law and beyond includes both Scottish and UK justice ministers facing intense scrutiny as well as plans for reforming abortion laws.

Angela Constance under pressure over Alexis Jay comments

The Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Angela Constance, is facing significant pressure to resign after she was accused of misrepresenting the views of Professor Alexis Jay, an expert in child protection.

The row has erupted as Professor Jay calls for urgent action to understand the scale of grooming gangs in Scotland.

• Grooming gangs: First Minister says he has confidence in SNP justice secretary who 'misled' parliament (Scotsman)
• Scottish government orders review of grooming gangs evidence amid calls for a public inquiry (Sky News)
• Scottish Tories weigh no-confidence motion in Constance (Herald)
• 'Untenable': SNP Justice Secretary Angela Constance told to resign for 'lying' (Scotsman)
• Angela Constance told to resign for 'lying' after child grooming expert calls for Inquiry in bombshell intervention (Daily Express)
• 'Nothing short of a farce!' Scottish Justice Secretary torn apart as MSP demands grooming gangs inquiry (GB News)
• Scotland bows to pressure to launch grooming gang review (Spectator)

Backlash to David Lammy's jury proposals rumbles on

UK Justice Secretary David Lammy remains in the spotlight as opposition to his proposals to significantly scale back jury trials in England and Wales continues.

Under the Deputy Prime Minister's plan, only the most serious offences - including murder and rape or offences with sentences longer than three years - would still be brought before juries.

• [£] David Lammy: ‘I don’t want to scrap juries. This is about saving them’ (Times)
• [£] Michael Gove: Cut jury trials and another lamp of liberty will fade (Times)
• The Guardian view on Labour’s plan to cut jury trials: it’s wrong to remove a pillar of British justice (Guardian)
• Listen: The government’s plan to scrap jury trials in an effort to reduce the backlog in the courts “is for the birds”, says barrister and former MP AnnaSoubry (Times Radio)
• [£] How will David Lammy’s overhaul of jury trials work? (Financial Times)
• Lammy’s jury trial plans are ‘massive mistake’, say Labour MPs and peers (Guardian)
• [£] Half of jury trials in England and Wales set to be heard by judge or magistrates (Financial Times)

And in other news

Legal headlines from across the UK and beyond:

• Mum of Scots lawyer brutally murdered in LA launches legal battle to get custody of grandchild (Daily Record)
• Podcast: Was US attack a war crime? (Joshua Rosenberg)
• In depth: 15 years after Holyrood sanctioned ABSs, will the Law Society finally bend? (Law Society Gazette)
• [£] Scottish Government signals massive change to tourist tax (Herald)
• Leonardo engineer to appeal after losing case over single-sex toilets access (Scotsman)
• Ede & Ravenscroft, the specialist serving the bar since 1689 (Financial Times)
• Drivers guilty of causing Shona McKinlay's death in Ayrshire crash (Ayr Advertiser)
• Everything you need to know about proposals to reform abortion law in Scotland (Daily Record)
• Labour planned in opposition how to introduce assisted dying via private member’s bill (Guardian)
• New WASPI update on judicial review into State Pension age compensation decision by DWP (Daily Record)
• Rape victims in England and Wales to be protected from ‘serial liar’ trope in legal shake-up (Guardian)
• [£] Why bereaved families feel abandoned over FAI deaths in custody (Herald)
• [£] Ex-ministers sound off at law group behind trans rights concert (Times)
• Meet the women who made London the divorce capital of the world (Financial Times)
• [£] Couple awarded £16k payout after collapsed yurt ruins wedding (Times)
• [£] Mother on benefits battles for share of millionaire father’s estate (Times)