Alex Chalk praised lawyers and judges in his first Conservative Party Conference speech as lord chancellor and justice secretary - shortly before home secretary Suella Braverman criticised 'Labour lawyers' who advise environmental activist group Just Stop Oil.
Chalk told the conference yesterday afternoon that businesses across the globe were choosing Britain's laws to govern contracts and British courts to settle disputes 'because of the skill of our lawyers and the excellence of our judges'.
'It means we have the largest legal sector in Europe and the second largest in the world,' he added. 'More than 200 overseas law firms have set up offices here, from over 40 jurisdictions... This success matters, conference, for all sorts of reasons, but chief among them is that it drives opportunity.
'Many of us in this room came into politics and chose the Conservative Party because we believe to our core in creating life chances for young people who may not have had the easiest start in life but are prepared to work hard and do the right thing. Unlocking potential and enabling people to go as far as their talents will take them is the British dream - and legal careers make them a reality.'
Outlining court recovery efforts, Chalk said the government was investing up to an extra £141m for barristers and solicitors 'whose important work ensures the guilty are convicted, the innocent walk free and the public are protected'.
Closing his speech, Chalk told the conference: 'Let us take pride in what our country has contributed - probably more than any other to the international rules-based order.'
In her speech, Braverman blamed laws passed by Labour for the Conservative government’s struggles to bring illegal migration under control. 'Our country has become enmeshed in a dense net of international rules that were designed for another era. And it is Labour that turbocharged their impact by passing the misnamed Human Rights Act. I am surprised they didn’t call it the Criminal Rights Act,' she said.
With law and order expected to be a key battleground at the next election, Braverman said the Conservative government wanted to help ordinary people go about their lives impeded, but a Labour party 'sympathises with the eco idiots that block roads and stop mums from taking their kids to school, stop workers from getting to their jobs, and stop ambulances from getting to hospitals. Because when it comes to Just Stop Oil, Labour’s lawyers advise them and Labour’s donors fund them.’
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