DEADLINE: Lord Falconer determined that the department will come into being on 9 May


The government working party tasked with ironing out the problems associated with the creation of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) still cannot say if it can be established without legislation - despite the Lord Chancellor's determination that the department will come into being next week.



Lord Justice Thomas, head of the MoJ working party and senior presiding judge of England and Wales, told the Lords constitution committee this week that 'difficult issues of principle still remain' which 'cannot be rushed'. He said it is impossible to say if the working party will reach an agreement or if the judiciary will conclude that legislation will be necessary.



Lord Holme, chairman of the constitution committee, said Lord Justice Thomas's statement showed that the working party's tale was 'not a happy story'. 'There is sympathy in the committee for what appears to have been, at the very least, a ragged process,' he said.



But Lord Falconer made it clear to the committee that the government intends to go ahead with the ministry whether the working party has solved all potential problems

or not. 'That's not going to stop the Ministry of Justice from going ahead on 9 May,' he said.



After repeated questioning on why he believed there was no need for legislation to create the MoJ, Lord Falconer said there would be 'a debate in Parliament' on the matter, but did not specify when this would be.



Simon Hughes MP, shadow constitutional affairs spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, told the Gazette this week that the MoJ's creation should be authorised by Parliament.



'The crucial part is that these things shouldn't be rushed,' he said. 'Parliament should have to endorse them. It should be argued through in public.'



The problem of competing budgets, he said, was an example of things that do not appear to have been thought through. 'This is the right idea, but the wrong way to do it,' Mr Hughes said.



Rupert White