United Kingdom

A district judge who raised concerns about budget cuts qualifies as a worker for the purposes of legislation protecting whistleblowers, justices in the Supreme Court have ruled. Lady Hale with whom Lord Kerr, Lord Carnwath, Lady Arden and Sir Declan Morgan agreed, delivered the judgment.

Controversial UK government plans to bring in the world's first age-verification system for online pornography have been abandoned. The commencement of part 3 of the Digital Economy Act 2017 was repeatedly delayed, having originally been set for April 2018.

Lord Keen of Elie QC, the Advocate General for Scotland, has been accused of professional misconduct and will be the subject of disciplinary proceedings later this month. On 29 October, Lord Keen, who represented the government in the recent Scottish Brexit litigation, will appear before the Bar Tri

A tool that aims to make the UK’s human rights records transparent and the government accountable has been launched. HumanRightsTracker.com allows civil society organisations, academics, parliamentarians and legal professionals to learn about the UK’s human rights duties under UN treatie

The implications of Brexit for asylum policy and for vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers in Europe have been highlighted in a new Lords committee report. The most significant implication of UK withdrawal from the EU’s Dublin System – which determines responsibility for asylum applicat

The UK government is being taken to court over its refusal to hold a fully independent, judge-led inquiry into British involvement in rendition and torture. The legal action is being brought by human rights NGO Reprieve, David Davis MP and Dan Jarvis MP.

A number of former judges have condemned the suggestion endorsed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson that judicial candidates be vetted by Parliament in a US-style process, our sister publication Scottish Legal News reports. The suggestion in the House of Commons last week by the Attorney General Geoffr

British royal Meghan Markle has launched legal proceedings against the publishers of the Mail on Sunday alleging a breach of data protection laws. The matter relates to a private letter the Duchess of Sussex sent to her estranged father, which was published by the tabloid in February.

The copy of Lady Chatterley's Lover used by the presiding judge in a landmark obscenity trial in the 1960s has been acquired by the University of Bristol. The annotated copy of the book was sold at auction to someone in the US last October but it was temporarily stopped from leaving the UK by the go

Barrister Jolyon Maugham QC, who has played a key role in Brexit litigation over the past three years, has revealed that he bought a stab vest following threats against his life. Mr Maugham said he was advised by the elected police and crime commissioner in his area to take measures to protect his o

Prime Minister Boris Johnson unlawfully prorogued Parliament, a full bench of the UK Supreme Court has unanimously ruled in a historic judgment. In court this morning, Lady Hale, President of the Supreme Court – sitting with Lord Reed, Deputy President; Lord Kerr; Lord Wilson; Lord Carnwath; L

The UK government has said it may seek to prorogue Parliament again if the Supreme Court rules against it in the ongoing Brexit cases. A written submission explaining what the government would do if it loses the litigation has been published.

A Zimbabwean asylum seeker whose human rights claim to remain in the UK was refused by the Home Secretary has had an application for judicial review of a decision that he had not made a fresh claim to remain in the country dismissed. The petitioner “GC” argued that, as an “openly g

Newly-declassified cables provide further details of the torture two men – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah – were subjected to by the CIA during interrogations UK security services were aware of and sometimes supplied questions for. “Rule out nothing whatsoever th

Downing Street was yesterday forced to repudiate comments made by a Number 10 insider questioning the impartiality of Scotland's judiciary in the wake of a landmark ruling that the Prime Minister's advice to the Queen to prorogue parliament was unlawful. The Inner House of the Court of Session in Ed