Home secretary Shabana Mahmood has rejected accusations that her Immigration and Asylum Bill is prioritising speed over justice - telling parliamentarians that the ability to 'frustrate legitimate removals' within the current system does not feel like justice.
Giving evidence to the House of Lords justice and home affairs committee yesterday, Mahmood was asked about the new Independent Immigration Appeals Authority (IIAA), which will be staffed by non-judges and prioritise cases involving human rights claims and foreign offenders.
Crossbencher Lord Anderson of Ipswich (David Anderson) said the Home Office's impact assessment rated the value of the IIAA as 'uncertain' and the Public Law Project accused Mahmood of prioritisng speed over justice. Anderson also asked if the adjudicators would have access to legal expertise in the same way as magistrates do.
Mahmood replied that the IIAA set-up will be similar to that of the magistrates' court - although the adjudicators will be trained 'so not sitting as ordinary members of the public but recruited from a broader range of people'.
She added: 'When you have a system that is not able to deal with claims in a speedy way or when last-minute appeals are able to frustrate legitimate removal from the country, I'd question whether that's meaningful justice as well. So I don't accept that criticism on speed over justice. I actually think that speed and the ability to have flex when it comes to the sheer scale of immigration appeals that we see, is necessary to maintain justice in its broadest sense.'
Mahmood stressed that the new body would be independent before telling the committee that she will be allowed to ask the chamber to prioritise certain cases. She cannot do this with tribunals where listing is a matter for the judiciary.
'As a former lord chancellor I would never interfere with listings for the judiciary,' she said. 'They have a specific set of things they do for us constitutionally... But here, when it comes to immigration appeals, the ability to be able to flex that system, to prioritise in the public interest, to make sure you can get foreign offenders out of your jurisdiction - those public interst requirements matter more. But there will still be a legal independent underpinning and ministers will be required to uphold the independence of this authority as well.'
While Mahmood was defending her reforms to the House of Lords, critics were across the road in Portcullis House voicing their concerns to the House of Commons justice select committee.
Alison Stanley, a founding member of the Law Society's immigration law committee, acknowledged pressures on the first-tier tribunal but said the problems started earlier with Home Office decision-making. Stanley pointed out that the Home Office's own transparency data states that only 52% of initial decisions met quality standards. She added that the IIAA will face the same problems that the tribunal does in relation to unrepresented appellants without further investment in legal aid.
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