Greater judicial responsibility has been accompanied by increased accountability, the Lord Chief Justice has said.
Lord Thomas, in a speech at UCL last week, traced the history of judicial independence, including since the 2005 reforms to the role of lord chancellor. He said the judiciary “has evolved a new way of working” over the last ten years.
“Some will no doubt continue to regret the passing of the old way of doing things: the removal of the lord chancellor as the linchpin between the two,” he said.
“However, by 2005 far reaching change was inevitable. Rather than all the weight being placed on the lord chancellor, we now have…an effective multi-faceted hinge in the shape of the lord chief justice, the Judicial Executive Board and the Judges’ Council which can lead reform and work with and the lord chancellor and the other ministers.”
