Juggling competing priorities at the MoJ

Call this reckless speculation if you like, but the opinion polls are not likely to be so out of kilter with the electorate that we cannot expect a majority conservative government to be returned at the general election. Much less predictable is who will be put in charge at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) on 9 June. Elizabeth Truss, the current Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, seems likely to be re-shuffled due to her poor relationship with the senior judiciary. Whoever is appointed (or maybe re-appointed) by the Prime Minister there is a groaning in-tray waiting for them.

Two years ago, Michael Gove, Truss’s predecessor, succeeded in securing £700m in investment to modernise the Civil Courts and Tribunals system. He got a further £270m set aside for the digitisation of the criminal courts. Under Truss the MoJ has commenced the work on transforming the courts system. This includes the establishment of a new online