Skip to main content
Justice Secretary slammed for interfering in judicial independence
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood during the official opening of HMP Millsike - the new Category C jail in Yorkshire which will deliver 1,500 prison places. Picture date: Thursday March 27, 2025Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood during the official opening

JUSTICE Secretary Shabana Mahmood was slammed for interfering in judicial independence today after she blocked new sentencing guidelines designed to reduce racial disparities.

Rebuking the minister, left MP Diane Abbott said there have been multiple reports highlighitng how black and ethnic minority people are treated unfairly by the justice system.

She said: “There is a reason why the Sentencing Council is independent. It was made a statutory independent body to avoid even the appearance of ministerial interference.

Morning Star call for advertising
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Clothing showing an image of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer
Eyes Left / 2 April 2025
2 April 2025
ANDREW MURRAY wonders whether recent opinion polling and a fresh local authority by-election result in Ilford are an indication that the time is ripe for the left to make inroads
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during a joint press confere
Britain / 1 April 2025
1 April 2025
Protesters demonstrate as Chancellor Rachel Reeves is about
Britain / 26 March 2025
26 March 2025
Labour accused of ‘balancing the books off the backs of the poor’ in spring spending statement
Protesters on Whitehall in London, as Chancellor of the Exch
Britain / 26 March 2025
26 March 2025