Nearly one in four respondents to a landmark international survey charting the erosion of the rule of law is from the UK.
They cited the 2019 prorogation of parliament in the context of Brexit debates, government officials’ disregard for Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, government attacks on immigration lawyers, and tensions regarding compliance with international law and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Others highlighted restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly, noting the criminalisation of peaceful protest. Legal intimidation of journalists and the use of counter-terrorism laws to suppress dissent were also cited.
The survey forms part of a broader project by the International Bar Association Rule of Law Forum on rule of law ‘backsliding’. The project is led by Tahera Mandviwala, managing partner of TDT Legal, India, along with the Bingham Centre for Rule of Law, and professors Sandra Kröger and Renata Uitz.
The survey coincides with the eighth consecutive year in which more countries experienced deterioration than improvement, according to the Justice Project 2025 Rule of Law Index, which observed a decline in 68% of countries worldwide between 2024 and 2025. Of 326 legal professionals from 64 countries, ranging from lawyers in private practice to academics, 73 were from the UK.
Overall, while 83% of respondents considered access to justice before independent and impartial courts to be extremely important, only 43% considered it to be well implemented in their jurisdiction. While a majority of 75% agreed that their judiciary was impartial overall, almost half (48%) reported having personally witnessed or encountered judicial bias.
Mandviwala said: ‘The most dangerous threat to the rule of law is not always its outright rejection, but the gradual normalisation of its compromise. The findings of this survey offer valuable insight into the state of the rule of law globally.
‘They reveal a central challenge for the rule of law today: widespread agreement about its fundamental principles does not necessarily translate into its effective protection in practice. The gap identified by legal professionals around the world between what the rule of law requires and how those requirements are being implemented in practice should be a matter of serious concern. The issues identified in relation to judicial independence, impartiality and accountability are particularly important as these are not peripheral features of the rule of law, but essential safeguards of justice, public confidence and the lawful exercise of power.’
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