James Forsyth James Forsyth

Parliamentary privilege must be protected from over-mighty judges

Sometimes, one does really wonder about the British judiciary. Its decision to issue injunctions which bar people from talking to their MPs about an issue, as revealed in The Times this morning, displays a shocking contempt for parliament. It suggests that the court have learned little from the Trafigura case.

The justification for these so-called ‘hyper injunctions’ is that if someone tells an MP about a case, it can then be raised in parliament and what the MP said reported under parliamentary privilege.

But parliamentary privilege exists for a reason: MPs must be able to raise any issue they want in parliament. For judges to try and limit it goes against the spirit of our unwritten constitution.

A confrontation between the judiciary and politicians is coming ever closer. Ministers are fed up with judges’ activist interpretations of the human rights act and the equalities bill and if the judiciary continues to try and take away the privileges of MPs to speak freely in the Commons then a clash is almost certain.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in