Whoever is appointed (or reappointed) as the next Lord Chancellor will have a groaning in-tray, says Steve Hynes
Call this reckless speculation if you like, but the opinion polls are not likely to be so out of kilter with the electorate that we cannot expect a majority conservative government to be returned at the general election. Much less predictable is who will be put in charge at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) on 9 June. Elizabeth Truss, the current Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, seems likely to be re-shuffled due to her poor relationship with the senior judiciary. Whoever is appointed (or maybe re-appointed) by the Prime Minister there is a groaning in-tray waiting for them.
Two years ago, Michael Gove, Truss’s predecessor, succeeded in securing £700m in investment to modernise the Civil Courts and Tribunals system. He got a further £270m set aside for the digitisation of the criminal courts. Under Truss the MoJ has commenced the work on transforming the courts system. This includes the establishment of a new online civil court, as was recommended by Lord Biggs in his report
