The impending general election has seen off for now legislation that was in the pipeline. The Litigation Funding Agreements (Enforceability) Bill, designed to reverse the unhelpful PACCAR decision of 2023, has fallen away. Promised measures to bring in fixed costs on settlement for unissued clinical negligence cases worth up to £25,000 have also bitten the dust. In truth, the measures were inchoate. They were still a work in progress, despite an ambitious declaration that they would be introduced in October. Lord Justice Birss was troubled by what had been drafted.
Matthew Maxwell Scott of the Association of Consumer Support Organisations understands the intricate workings of the legislature and tipped me off last January about purdah. The announcement of an election means that the civil service pauses all but essential work and it eventually occurred to me that reforms to be delivered during 2024 could be derailed, as has proved to
