No date yet for PACCAR legislation, government admits

The government has again admitted that it has no timetable for legislation to reverse the effects of the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in PACCAR. Justice minister Lord Lemos (Gerard Lemos) told the House of Lords yesterday that legislation to mitigate the effects of PACCAR, along with ’proportionate regulation of litigation funding agreements’ will be introduced ’when parliamentary time allows’.

In an exchange opened by Lord Carlile of Berriew (Alex Carlile KC), the government was accused of breaking its promise to introduce a short bill to clarify the status of litigation funding agreements, which was thrown into doubt by the PACCAR judgment.

A Conservative former minister, Lord Keen of Elie (Richard Keen KC), pressed the government to act. 'The last Conservative government introduced the Litigation Funding Agreements (Enforceability) Bill in 2024, so the necessary legislation is ready and waiting,' he said. 'The Starmer government were notorious for doing nothing very slowly. I ask the minister: will the present government deal with one simple and uncontroversial matter very quickly and thus avoid the bottomless quicksands of parliamentary time?'

Agreeing that 'bottomless quicksands are best avoided', Lemos repeated 'we will legislate. The noble and learned Lord knows I cannot give him a date, but I will do my best to move this forward with [courts minister Sarah Sackman MP]'.