On 12 June, the Government announced plans for a radical overhaul of the UK legal system, in rather chaotic circumstances.
The far-reaching proposals – which included the abolition of the post of Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chancellor’s Department, the establishment of a Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA), the creation of a free-standing Supreme Court as the highest court in the land in place of the House of Lords and the creation of a new, quasi-independent judicial appointments commission – were controversial enough. The manner in which they were announced, off the back of a messy Cabinet reshuffle and after little consultation, attracted fierce accusations that the Government had shown little respect for the UK’s constitutional traditions.
