Magistrates row

Jane Kennedy, parliamentary secretary at the Lord Chancellors Department, this week hit back at critics who have accused the government of politicising the magistracy.

The...Jane Kennedy, parliamentary secretary at the Lord Chancellors Department, this week hit back at critics who have accused the government of politicising the magistracy.

The criticism followed a letter from the Magistrates Advisory Committee in Stoke-on-Trent which reports to the Lord Chancellor encouraging applications from shop-floor workers, ethnic minorities, the unemployed, and controversially, Labour party supporters.

Ms Kennedy said political affiliation had been used by successive Lord Chancellors as a proxy for social balance among lay magistrates.