Keeping an eye on party pledges

Lawyers are keeping a close eye on manifesto pledges by the main parties in the run up to the 7 May General Election.

The Conservatives have promised to scrap the Human Rights Act, and replace it with a Bill of Rights. They claim ditching the link between the UK’s courts and the European Court of Human Rights, and making the UK Supreme Court the highest court of human rights in the UK, would end the “mission creep” of human rights law. This proposal, announced last year, led the Labour Party to obtain a legal opinion from two Matrix Chambers QCs, who described it as “wholly unworkable, legally contradictory and inherently inconsistent”.

The party also pledges to continue with its courts modernisation and legal aid reform programmes, which have proved controversial so far among lawyers, with the judiciary and legal professional bodies opposed to plans to increase civil court fees by as much as 600%.

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have pledged to review the proposed civil court fee rises if in government. If the fee increases do go ahead, Law Society president Andrew Caplen has said the legal professional bodies will not pursue a judicial review but will “closely monitor their impact” and gather case studies to continue the campaign.

Labour has also pledged to abolish the employment tribunal fees system, claiming new charges of up to £1,200 introduced in July 2013 have blocked access to justice in many cases.

The party’s headline promise to end tax breaks for non-domiciled residents (non-doms) has proved controversial. Non-doms can choose whether to pay tax on overseas earnings but must, if they have lived here for seven years, pay an annual fee of £30,000-£90,000. Peter Vaines, tax partner at Squire Patton Boggs, says: “This cannot sensibly be categorised as a loophole by any stretch of the imagination.

“It is exactly how the law has always been intended to work—and the UK has benefited very substantially as a result. Many other countries just have a different name for it, taxing people on local source income and not on foreign income.”