GRAYLING ALWAYS KNOWS BEST

Amongst the many criticisms here and elsewhere over the actions of Justice Secretary Chris Grayling is his stated intention to limit the availability of public funding for judicial review thus reducing the occasions on which individuals or organisations can challenge the legality of government policy. As with his changes that have rendered legal aid unavailable for many criminal and civil matters we are rapidly approaching a situation where there is one law for the rich and another for the plebs. The mindset of the Secretary of State can be seen all too clearly in his remarks today in response to the failure of the Plantaganet Alliance when judges rejected their plea that Mr Grayling is under a legal duty to set up a wide-ranging public consultation exercise to decide where Richard III`s  final resting place should be. I am not qualified to question that decision but Mr Grayling`s subsequent remarks should be noted; “I have been very clear from the start that the decision to grant an exhumation licence for Richard III was taken correctly and in line with the law (my italics)......I am, however, frustrated and angry that the Plantagenet Alliance - a group with tenuous claims to being relatives of Richard III - have taken up so much time and public money. This case, brought by a shell company set up by the Alliance to avoid paying legal costs, is an example of exactly why the Government is bringing forward a package of reforms to the judicial review process.“

So there you have it......if a government minister says that a decision is in line with the law then that is final. Don`t waste tax payers` money on futile attempts to prove that errors have been made. Why wasn`t Grayling made Trtansport Minister and he could have made the trains run on time.