It is understood that both the Housing Secretary and Justice Secretary have written to Sir Kier Starmer to express concern at the impact of likely spending cuts to be announced in the Budget.
The BBC reports that Angela Rayner – who is also the Deputy Prime Minister – and Shabana Mahmood have written to Starmer following reports that a £40 billion funding gap would be bridged not just with tax rises but also substantial spending cuts.
Such cuts could be as much as 20% in some cases, the BBC understands.
The BBC quotes Danny Shaw – a commentator on justice and policing affairs who has previously advised the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper – as saying that cuts of that order would be “devastating” for the justice department.
“It would completely destroy in many ways the criminal justice system in terms of the courts, probation, prisons and legal aid” he is quoted as saying. There is already a backlog of around 68,000 cases in the crown courts, he added.
The Chancellor submitted a final outline of her planned measures to the official forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility, earlier this week.
There have been numerous warnings to both the past government and the new one about the likely impact on court delays if Section 21 powers are abolished, as Labour is committed to achieving.
Ian Fletcher, director of policy at the British Property Federation, wrote on Landlord Today last weekend that: “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.”
