Category Archives: Law

Sacking of Christian school worker over posts about LGBTQ+ lessons unlawful, court rules

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Kristie Higgs was dismissed after sharing posts on plans to teach equalities programme at her son’s C of E school

A Christian school worker who was sacked after she shared Facebook posts raising concerns about lessons in LGBTQ+ relationships for primary schoolchildren has won her battle in the court of appeal.

Kristie Higgs was dismissed from her role as a pastoral administrator and work experience manager at Farmor’s, a secondary school in Fairford, Gloucestershire, in 2019 after an anonymous complaint from a parent at the school.

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Starmer ‘not telling truth’ over Gaza family asylum decision, claims Badenoch, after PMQs clash – as it happened

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Opposition leader says PM was wrong when he said that the decision was taken under the last government

After PMQs there will be an urgent question in the Commons, tabled by the Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine, on “the potential security implications of the involvement of Chinese companies including Mingyang in energy infrastructure projects”. After that Dan Jarvis, the security minister, will make a statement to mark the publication of the report into Prevent’s dealings with Ali Harbi Ali, the man who killed the Conservative MP David Amess.

Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan police commissioner, has blamed Home Office foot-dragging for a failure to change the rules to allow forces to sack officers who fail vetting procedures, Matthew Weaver reports.

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Judge who granted Palestinian family asylum made wrong call, says Keir Starmer

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Family fleeing Gaza were allowed to join brother in UK after applying through scheme meant for Ukrainian refugees

A judge who granted a Palestinian family the right to live in the UK after they applied through a scheme originally meant for Ukrainian refugees made the wrong decision, Keir Starmer has said.

A family of six seeking to flee Gaza were allowed to join their brother in the UK after an immigration judge ruled that the Home Office’s rejection of their application breached their human rights, it emerged on Tuesday.

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Assisted dying bill has lost Commons majority now high court signoff abandoned, says MP – UK politics live

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Danny Kruger says those who backed the bill did so under false premise after change to safeguards announced

There will be two urgent questions after 12.30pm: on the Clonoe inquest, which found that the SAS acted unlawfully when they killed four IRA terrorists in an ambush in 1992; and then another on the US steel tariffs.

A Northern Ireland Office minister will respond to the first, and a business minister will respond to the second.

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UK copyright law consultation ‘fixed’ in favour of AI firms, peer says

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Exclusive: Beeban Kidron says plans will lead to ‘wholesale’ transfer of wealth from creative industries to tech sector

A consultation on changes to UK copyright law is “fixed” in favour of artificial intelligence companies and will lead to a “wholesale” transfer of wealth from the creative industries to the tech sector, according to a crossbench peer campaigning against the mooted overhauls.

Beeban Kidron said the government was undermining its own growth agenda with proposals to let AI companies train their algorithms on creative works under a new copyright exemption.

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Labour shelves plans to make it easier for people to legally change gender

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Ministers mothball promised reforms to simplify the process amid fears over rise of Reform UK

Labour has quietly shelved plans to make it easier for people to legally change their gender amid concerns about the rising popularity of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Ministers have mothballed their promised reforms to simplify the process whereby anyone seeking to change gender in the UK must get approval from a panel of doctors and lawyers.

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Ex-supreme court judge says ‘arguable case’ Israel’s conduct in Gaza is genocidal

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Lord Sumption says Israel’s actions ‘grossly disproportionate’ and in new book points to suppression of free speech over Palestinian cause

A former UK supreme court judge has described Israel’s assault on Gaza as “grossly disproportionate” and said there was “at least an arguable case” that it was genocidal.

Lord Sumption, who served on the UK’s highest court from 2012 to 2018, was one of the highest profile signatories of a letter last year warning that the UK government was breaching international law by arming Israel.

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Bereaved parents launch court challenge over UK benefit ‘discrimination’

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Widowed parent’s allowance claims for those not married or in civil partnership can only be backdated from 30 August 2018

Two bereaved parents have filed a case at the European court of human rights, claiming that the UK government’s treatment of them is discriminatory.

Jyotee Gunnooa and Andrew Byles lost their partners but were unable to claim a benefit for widowed parents because they were not married or in civil partnerships when the deaths happened.

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Make first-time, low-level offenders go to rehab instead of court, Bar Council suggests

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Exclusive: Barristers also say offenders could pay compensation to victims, in effort to tackle court backlog

First-time offenders in low-level crimes should be diverted from trials by paying compensation to victims or enrolling in rehabilitation to solve the courts crisis, the Bar Council has said.

The government has proposed abandoning jury trials in some cases to tackle the backlog in crown court cases, but the body representing barristers in England and Wales said this was “not a principled response” and would not work.

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Trump’s Gaza plan could amount to war crime, say experts

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Academics fear US president’s lack of reference to international law could lead to global breakdown of peace and security

Donald Trump’s proposal to permanently move millions of Palestinians out of Gaza to allow its reconstruction under US “ownership” could amount to a war crime or crime against humanity, experts in international law have said.

The experts said the US president’s framing of his plan without any reference to international law set a dangerous precedent that would encourage other world leaders to do similarly and contribute to a global breakdown of peace and security.

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‘Watershed moment’ as three-year time limit on child rape claims scrapped in England and Wales

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Under current rules, civil child sexual abuse cases must be brought within three years of turning 18

Hundreds of child rape survivors, including those targeted by grooming gangs, are expected to pursue their abusers in the courts after ministers scrapped a three-year time limit on compensation claims.

Under reforms hailed by campaigners as a “watershed moment”, ministers said civil claims will no longer have to be brought within three years of a child abuse survivor’s 18th birthday.

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Thames Water seeks high court approval for £3bn debt lifeline

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Hearing to rule on whether to grant emergency funds to water utility, which says it may run out of cash by March

Thames Water will seek court approval for up to £3bn in emergency funding, which could stave off temporary nationalisation, at a court hearing in London.

A high court judge will hear from Britain’s biggest water supplier and groups of rival creditors on Monday before deciding whether to approve the rescue. Without the debt lifeline, Thames Water has said it could run out of cash by March.

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Just Stop Oil protester, 78, released to home detention after fitting tag found

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Gaie Delap had prison term extended because contractors could not find wrist strap of right size

A 78-year-old climate protester has been released on home detention curfew just a week after her prison term was extended because government contractors were unable to find the right-sized tag for her wrist.

Gaie Delap, 78, a retired teacher and Just Stop Oil protester, was sentenced to 20 months in prison for her participation in a climate protest on the M25 in 2022 and was released last November under the home detention curfew (HDC) scheme.

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Planned UK people-smuggling laws risk ‘criminalising’ asylum seekers, charities say

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Bill could mean asylum seekers crossing the Channel who refuse rescue may face five years in prison

Keir Starmer’s planned people-smuggling laws risk “criminalising” hundreds of asylum seekers, refugee charities have said, after it emerged that people who refuse to be rescued by the French authorities could be jailed for five years.

Some parents who bring their children to the UK in small boats could also face prosecution, which could ultimately split their families, a human rights assessment of the border security, asylum and immigration bill has concluded.

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Judge rejects attempt to overturn inquest verdict on Stockport scout’s death

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Scout leaders had launched judicial review over verdict of unlawful killing of Ben Leonard, 16, who fell from cliff on expedition

A high court judge has rejected an attempt by a scout leader and an assistant to overturn the findings of an inquest jury that concluded they were responsible for the unlawful killing of a 16-year-old boy who fell from a cliff during an expedition.

Ben Leonard from Stockport, Greater Manchester, became separated from his group during a hike in north Wales and fell about 60m (200ft) from a ledge, suffering a fatal head injury.

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ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants over atrocities in Darfur

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Karim Khan says civilians being targeted and communities destroyed in western region of Sudan

The prosecutor for the international criminal court has said he is seeking arrest warrants for people accused of atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region, where the US and others have determined that a paramilitary group and its allies have perpetrated genocide.

Karim Khan told the UN security council in New York: “Criminality is accelerating in Darfur. Civilians are being targeted, women and girls are subjected to sexual violence, and entire communities are left in destruction.

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Israel insists it is going ahead with Unrwa ban – what it may mean for Palestinians

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UN agency ordered to vacate HQ by Thursday – just as aid is being increased to Gaza after ceasefire

Israel has insisted it will not back down over its plan to close down the Gaza operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa), the UN relief agency for Palestinians, even though critics say the move will jeopardise urgent humanitarian aid efforts.

Israel has ordered the UN agency to vacate its headquarters in East Jerusalem by Thursday, after the Israeli Knesset passed a law on 28 October banning its operations in Israel and the Palestinian territories. It has not yet said how it will implement a related law ending all Israeli government cooperation with Unwra, which could come into force on the same day and strangle its operations in the West Bank and Gaza.

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New rules ease reporting restrictions in family courts across England and Wales

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Journalists and bloggers to have greater access under ‘open reporting provisions’ after pilot scheme launched in 2023

A scheme allowing journalists increased access to family courts is being rolled out in an effort to improve transparency.

The initiative permits accredited journalists and legal bloggers to report on cases as they unfold, as they would in criminal courts, provided the families and certain professionals involved remain anonymous.

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Europe overhauls funding to Tunisia after Guardian exposes migrant abuse

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Allegations of rape, beatings and collusion by EU-funded security forces prompt shift in migration arrangements

The European Commission is fundamentally overhauling how it makes payments to Tunisia after a Guardian investigation exposed myriad abuses by EU-funded security forces, including widespread sexual violence against migrants.

Officials are drawing up “concrete” conditions to ensure that future European payments to Tunis can go ahead only if human rights have not been violated.

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Law experts demand inquiry into Met policing of pro-Palestine protest

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Forty academics write to home secretary over weekend’s ‘dangerous assault’ on the right to protest

More than 40 legal scholars have signed a letter calling for an independent inquiry into the Met’s policing of a pro-Palestine protest in London on Saturday, describing it as “a disproportionate, unwarranted and dangerous assault on the right to assembly and protest”.

The force said it arrested 77 people at the demonstration, having banned protesters from gathering outside the BBC’s London headquarters, citing its proximity to a synagogue and the fact it was taking place on the Sabbath. The ban led to the protest being changed to a static rally, but the Met claimed people broke through police lines in a coordinated effort to breach the conditions.

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