Top judges hit back at ‘two-tier justice’ claims with rebuke to Labour Cabinet Minister

TOP judges have hit back at claims they are imposing a “two-tier justice” system that favours ethnic and gender minorities.

The Sentencing Council have rebuked Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s demand to abandon their controversial new guidance.

Last week it issued rules telling judges to take into account a convict’s ethnicity, faith or gender when deciding whether to jail them, meaning they could get softer sentences.

It sparked a massive backlash and claims that people will be treated differently under the law. 

Labour’s Ms Mahmood has threatened to strip the quango of its powers and pass laws to overrule it unless it abandons the proposals.

She will now be under pressure to follow through her threat to legislate after the independent body refused to change course.

In their reply, Lord Justice William Davis suggested Ms Mahmood was undermining the independence of the judiciary and that he did “not accept the premise of your objection”.

He said: “There is a general acceptance of the guidelines by the judiciary because they emanate from an independent body on which judicial members are in the majority.

“The Council preserves the critical constitutional position of the independent judiciary in relation to sentencing. In criminal proceedings where the offender is the subject of prosecution by the state, the state should not determine the sentence imposed on an individual offender.

“If sentencing guidelines of whatever kind were to be dictated in any way by Ministers of the Crown, this principle would be breached.”

In a letter to the Sentencing Council, Ms Mahmood warned she would legislate to overrule them unless they dropped their guidance.

She said: “I will also be considering whether policy decisions of such import should be made by the Sentencing Council and what role ministers and parliament should play.

“For that reason I will be reviewing the role and powers of the Sentencing Council alongside the work of the Independent Sentencing Review.

“If necessary, I will legislate in the Sentencing Bill that will follow that review.”

She also threw blame back onto the Tories by claiming they approved the changes during their time in government.

The Ministry of Justice said then Conservative Sentencing Minister Gareth Bacon signed off the guidance in February 2024.