Westminster update: home secretary responds to summer riots

One thing you need to do

With all major political parties holding their annual party conferences soon, we're hosting various events with prominent political stakeholders to promote solicitors and the wider profession.

Across the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat conferences, we are hosting fringe events in conjunction with each party’s lawyers society.

If you’re planning to attend a party conference, or will be nearby, please do get in touch and join us!

What you need to know

1. Home secretary responds to summer riots

On Monday 2 September, the home secretary Yvette Cooper gave a statement in the House of Commons to condemn the unrest and disorder that took place over the summer following the tragic attacks in Southport.

Cooper said she and the prime minister are united in ensuring those involved pay the price for their actions.

Cooper highlighted:

• the 100 additional prosecutors that have been stood up by the CPS
• praised the MoJ for making more cells available, and
• said the government had launched a new national programme to address violent disorder

Looking to the future, Cooper said the police had commenced a ‘lessons learned exercise’ as she looks to:

• support more neighbourhood-based police
• work with social media companies to make sure they aren’t used as platforms to spread hate

Green MP Sian Berry raised the use of Telegram to share the addresses of immigration lawyers’ offices and asked what was being done in response.

The home secretary said the speedy implementation of the Online Safety Act 2023 would help address this.

2. Former home secretary eliminated from Conservative leadership race

On Wednesday 4 September, Conservative MPs gathered to vote in the first round of the party leadership election. This contest comes at a critical juncture for the party.

Following their historic defeat in July, media outlets and stakeholders have speculated over the direction the party will look to to recover.

In each round, the candidate with the lowest votes amongst MPs is eliminated and subsequent rounds will take place until there are only two candidates left standing, at which time the wider Conservative membership will be given the opportunity to vote for the next leader.

• former immigration minister Robert Jenrick secured the most votes with 28
• Kemi Badenoch came second with 22 votes
• shadow home secretary James Cleverley came third with 21 votes
• shadow minister for security Tom Tugendhat with 17 votes
• shadow secretary of state for work and pensions Mel Stride with 16 votes
• former home secretary Priti Patel with 14 votes

Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch represent the right of the party and their one-two finish indicates the preferred philosophical direction of remaining Conservative MPs.

While Priti Patel also leans towards the right, her votes will now likely be split between Jenrick and Badenoch, strengthening their position.

3. Building safety at the forefront of housing questions

With the news dominated by the latest report on the Grenfell tower tragedy, the first round of departmental questions for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government focused on the government’s plans for improving building safety.

On Monday 2 September, parliamentary under secretary of state Rushanara Ali published a written statement updating parliament on:

• fire safety and evacuation proposals
• the recognition of CE marking for construction products
• updates to the statutory guidance to the building regulations

Ali outlined that new build homebuyers must feel confident that their new home is safe, and that the government are committed to improving redress for homebuyers when things go wrong.

She reassured the Commons that the government is considering the recommendations in the Competition and Markets Authority’s recent market study on house building, and will publish their response in due course.

Oral questions also focused on upcoming reforms to leasehold.

Housing minister Matthew Pennycook updated the house on the implementations of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024.

He reaffirmed Labour’s committment to enacting the remaining Law Commission recommendations:

• enfranchisement and the right to manage
• take steps to make commonhold the default tenure for new flats
• tackle unaffordable and unregulated ground rent charges

As set out in the King’s Speech, draft legislation on further reforming leasehold and commonhold will be published shortly.

4. A reset with the EU

On Thursday 5 September, the secretary of state for business and trade, Jonathan Reynolds took to the dispatch box for oral questions.

Reynolds was clear that “we must improve on the UK’s poor business investment performance, which has been the lowest in the G7 for some time. We must recognise that so much chopping and changing of policy in recent years has been to our detriment".

He explained that the government wishes to embed our industrial strategy for the long term. It will focus on sustainable, inclusive and secure growth that will cover many sectors of the economy.

That will mean the government will work in partnership not just with business, but with civil society, trade unions and local and regional leaders in a way that the government has not been doing for some years.

He committed to publishing plans in the coming weeks.

In response to criticism by Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat), the secretary of state set out the government’s intentions for resetting the UK’s relationship with the EU.

Reynolds noted that reforms “are practical, pragmatic measures that government will ask all members to support, particularly on the recognition of professional qualifications”.

Trade minister, Douglas Alexander was next to the dispatch box to detail the discussions the government has had with European counterparts:

“Ministers have already been engaging positively on trade issues with our EU and member state counterparts, including EU executive vice-president Dombrovskis, German vice-chancellor Habeck and Italian minister Tajani. The government are seeking the practical changes needed to ensure smoother trade between the United Kingdom and Europe—for example, on mutual recognition of professional qualifications”.

While not mentioning lawyers directly, the inclusion of mutual recognition of professional qualifications has the potential to be significant for legal services.

We will continue engagements with the Business and Trade Department to ensure out member’s voices are at the forefront of trade negotiations.

Coming up

The public affairs team have identified a number of bills of relevance to solicitors and the wider legal profession.

We will be working closely with MPs and peers to influence a number of these bills:

• Arbitration Bill: committee stage (Lords) on 11 September
• Product Regulation and Metrology Bill: second reading (Lords) on 8 October