Populist threat to rule of law a danger to UK working class, says attorney general

"Rightwing populists threaten working-class people's protections under the rule of law, the attorney general will say in his most political intervention yet. In a criticism directed squarely at Nigel Farage and Robert Jenrick, Richard Hermer will say that populist politicians pose a threat to the everyday protections to people who use the legal system and the courts to right significant wrongs. Speaking on the first day of the Labour party's conference in Liverpool, Hermer will say: If you can't trust your case will be heard, or heard fairly, or if your fundamental rights are taken away, it is working-class people who will pay the price."

"Writing about the trial of Elias Morgan for the murder of the former prison officer Lenny Scott, Jenrick said in a since-deleted post on X on 1 July: Lenny exposed corruption and took on the gangster controlling a prison wing. He received threats to his life, but he was left unsupported. Four years later he was shot dead. That will enrage any decent person. We need radical change, now. His tweet was raised in court without the jury, by the prosecutor, Alex Leach KC, when he told Mr Justice Goose that the post is problematic because it delivers as apparent fact what the prosecution relies upon. The prosecution took steps to have it taken down and it is no longer online. Morgan was found guilty on 29 August."

Rightwing populists are undermining everyday legal protections that working-class people rely on to use courts to right significant wrongs. Public attacks on the legal system and prejudicial social media comments risk collapsing active trials and compromising fair hearings. Robert Jenrick posted commentary about an ongoing murder trial that prosecutors said presented contested facts as apparent truth; the post was removed and the defendant Elias Morgan was later convicted. Reform UK figures have promoted vigilante-style patrols, which critics say weaken policing and the rule of law and further jeopardise legal protections for vulnerable communities.

Read at www.theguardian.com