Letters: the courts are not trying to subvert parliament

Judge not

Sir: The claim by Ross Clark (‘Keir’s law’, 22 June) that the left can achieve what it wants by relying, in part, on ‘judicial activism’ is uninformed and misleading. I can assure Mr Clark and those who might share his sentiments that the courts are, in general, at pains to respect the separation of powers and the will of parliament.

A cursory consideration of recent decisions from the Supreme Court would have revealed this. For example, in a judgment handed down in April, Lord Sales (delivering the unanimous judgment of that court) reaffirmed the already well-established principle that ‘in the field of social welfare policy, courts should normally be slow to substitute their view for that of the decision maker who has the democratic authority to make the relevant judgment, whether parliament or a secretary of state’. The secretary of state’s appeal was allowed and the human rights claim in question was dismissed.