Weekly Update
With the Government appearing to encourage speculation that emergency legislation might be invoked to suspend the operation of the Benn Act, by which Parliament sought to avoid a no deal Brexit, and briefing that the Prime Minister would not request an extension to Article 50 even if the Supreme Court ordered him to, UK politics this week began to look like a dystopian Armando Ianucci parody called The Will of the People. After just the first episode, we already know that it is not going to end well for the Rule of Law.
It was a timely roundtable discussion, then, that we held this week in partnership with Blackstone Chambers, on the subject of Democratic Populism and the Rule of Law. The Bingham Centre has been working on challenges to the Rule of Law as a result of democratic populism in a number of countries for several years, and in particular the threat it poses to the independence of the judiciary as populist elected governments of whatever political colour move to capture the referees. However, now that it is clear that this is a global phenomenon afflicting well established democracies, we want to initiate an ongoing discussion about precisely what those challenges are and how best to respond to them in a way that interrogates why there is such a ready audience for the populists' narrative of distrust of all the institutions on which the Rule of Law depends.
For a characteristically measured and eloquent account of the Rule of Law challenges that now seem uncomfortably close to home, we recommend reading Lord Anderson's contribution to Wednesday's House of Lords debate on a motion to take note of the UK's withdrawal from the EU - a gentle but cogent rallying cry, from a former Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation who understand the meaning of genuine Independence, for all those who care about the Rule of Law but understand that in these populist times we have to be smart about defending it to ensure that it is not sacrificed on the altar of the popular will.
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