Backlogs and political attacks risk erosion of rule of law, Lords claim
The rule of law in the UK is being weakened, and everyone must take steps to protect it against further erosion, says a damming House of Lords report.
The ‘Rule of law: holding the line between anarchy and tyranny’ report, published on Thursday, identified three areas contributing to the decline: social/cultural erosion, institutional failings in the justice system, and political behaviour.
The report claims politicians should stop personal attacks on judges and it urges the government to take stronger action to defend the judiciary against supposed misinformation and attacks on judges’ integrity.
The Lords believe this hostility has a direct impact on judges’ safety.
This comes after shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick announced a sweeping crackdown on what he describes as “pro-migration bias” in the judiciary at the Tory Conference in October.
He vowed, while holding up a judge’s wig, to remove so-called “activist” judges.
The speech prompted legal bodies representing over 250,000 lawyers to hit back, calling his speech “dangerous”.
The House of Lords report noted that the attacks on judges often labelled them as “interfering in politics” when their decisions conflicted with a political agenda. The Lords claim this wrongly suggests they are overstepping their role rather than merelyenforcing the law as decided by Parliament.
Broken justice system
The 95-page report highlighted the backlogs and severe delays in the criminal justice system as one of the reasons for the slips in trust.
The significant barriers to accessing justice, including stubbornly persistent delays and backlogs in the courts, are eroding the public confidence in the ‘rule of law.
The report recommends immediate action to tackle these delays, including adopting new technologies and expanding alternative dispute resolution.
In June, at the Spending Review, the Treasury set aside £7bn to “support the justice system,” with Rachel Reeves pointing out the Conservatives had left the prison system on the brink of collapse before they left office.
The criminal justice backlog in England and Wales is high, with the Crown Court backlog reaching a record of over 78,000 cases at the end of June 2025, and the Magistrates’ Court backlog standing at 310,304 cases, according to government stats.
Lord Strathclyde, chair of the Constitution Committee, stated, “The government should be at the forefront of restoring our belief in the rule of law.”
“It needs to take strong and visible action to promote and uphold this important constitutional value, and this should be underpinned by addressing the weaknesses in our justice system.”
He called the moment “crucial” and added “decisive action must be taken”.