Concerns voiced over panel to consider judicial review

Concerns have been raised over the motives of the UK Government in appointing a panel of experts to "examine if there is a need to reform the judicial review process".

The Government said the independent review would consider "whether the right balance is being struck between the rights of citizens to challenge executive decisions and the need for effective and efficient government".

However commentators on social media were quick to point out that the chairman, Lord Faulks QC, was in charge of steering procedural curbs on judicial review through the House of Lords while a minister at the Ministry of Justice in the coalition Government, and last year, after the Supreme Court decision against the Government in the prorogation case, wrote that Parliament should legislate to limit judicial review of the prerogative.

The five other members do represent a range of professional and academic interests. They include Alan Page, Professor of Public Law at Dundee University; Carol Harlow QC, Emeritus Professor of Law at the London School of Economics; Vikram Sachdeva QC, chair of the Constitutional & Administrative Law Bar Association; Celina Colquhoun, a barrister specialising in planning and environmental law; and Nick McBride, fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and an author particularly of tort law texts.

Specifically, the review will consider:

• whether the terms of judicial review should be written into law;
• whether certain executive decisions should be decided on by judges;
• which grounds and remedies should be available in claims brought against the Government;
• any further procedural reforms to judicial review, such as timings and the appeal process.

The Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland QC MP, said: "This review will ensure this precious check on Government power is maintained, while making sure the process is not abused or used to conduct politics by another means."

Lord Faulks added: "Together we will examine judicial review and the need to strike a balance between the right of citizens to challenge Government through the courts and the elected Government's right to govern."

Public lawyer Dinah Rose QC tweeted in response: "I find this statement baffling. Judicial review is a mechanism that ensures that Government – the executive – acts within the law as enacted by Parliament – the legislator.  Governments have no 'right' to govern unlawfully. What is the 'balance' being referred to here?"

The group has been asked to report within five months, by the end of the year.