The justice secretary has defended her decision to grant herself a veto on sentencing policy changes - insisting she has no 'personal beef' with the Sentencing Council.

Asked today about her row with the sentencing body over now-shelved guidance, Shabana Mahmood told the Lords constitution committee: 'There was a disagreement on an important principle of law and one which I was not willing to compromise - that all are equal before the law. That particular guideline strayed into what I considered to be a matter of policy,' Mahmood said.

The guideline would have introduced a presumption of pre-sentence reports for offenders in particular ethnic, cultural and faith groups. 'There was a disagreement and we were unable to resolve it. I said we would legislate to prevent that guideline from coming into force.'

Mahmood said the Sentencing Council has an important role to play and the purpose of guidelines is to ensure consistency. 'But they do have to maintain public confidence,' Mahmood said. 

'In my view, they stepped into an area of policy rather than the realm of the independence of the judiciary. Having this process of approval by myself and the lady chief justice is the right way forward.'

Mahmood would like to see pre-sentence reports in all cases but 'to do that in accordance with personal characteristics, I think, is a step too far. I think the new system will maintain public confidence but allow the Sentencing Council to do what is good, important work which I want to support them in as well'.

 

This article is now closed for comment.