22^nd Oct 2024

Apparently both the Justice Secretary and Housing Secretary have written to PM Keir Starmer highlighting their major concerns over the most probable spending cuts to feature in the Budget.

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The BBC has recently reported that the Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner and Shabana Mahmood wrote to the PM after reports of a £40bn funding gap would be ‘covered’ by tax rises but also significant spending cuts.

The BBC believes the cuts could be as much as 20% in some departments and quotes Danny Shaw who has previously advised Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on justice and policing affairs who said that such cuts would ‘devastating’ for the justice department..

He said: “It would completely destroy in many ways the criminal justice system in terms of the courts, probation, prisons and legal aid

“There is already a backlog of around 68,000 cases in the crown courts.”.

Last week the Chancellor sent the final outline of her budget’s measures to the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Both the previous and existing governments have been given many warnings about the danger of abolishing Section 21 powers will cause even further court delays when regulated.

Ian Fletcher, director of policy at the British Property Federation wrote on an online industry news site : “Possession claims from submission to conclusion can take well over a year in some places. Access to the courts is important for not just private landlords, but social landlords, and tenants.

“ … It is great that the new government is committed to digitalisation, but that won’t arrive anytime soon, and in the meantime, if our courts are to cope with more possession cases they will need more resource, and more recruitment of staff like bailiffs. I’d like to be confident that is happening, but after a decade of talk and little action I am sceptical. 

“If I were a landlord, I would therefore be writing to my local MP asking them to raise their concerns and seeking more assurances.”