As the leadership contest got closer to the finishing line, it was predicted that, following Boris Johnson’s resignation, Liz Truss would become the new prime minister and we would have a new justice secretary. Both transpired. Truss was lord chancellor and justice secretary for just 11 months (July 2016 to June 2017) and was criticised during her tenure for failing to defend judges when they were branded ‘enemies of the people’ by the Daily Mail on 4 November 2016.

At her first appearance before the House of Commons Justice Committee, Truss was informed by Labour MP Rupa Huq that some surveys showed that 50 per cent of legal aid solicitors earned just £20,000 per year or less (Oral evidence: the work of the secretary of state, HC 620, 7 September 2016). It seemed Huq was referring to Young Legal Aid Lawyers’ second report on social mobility and diversity in the sector, One step forward, two steps back (October 2013). As evidenced by the criminal bar strike, nothing has changed.

So, what does the appointment of Brandon Lewis, a qualified barrister, as lord chancellor mean for justice (apart from the end of Dominic Raab’s controversial Bill of Rights)? As Northern Ireland secretary (2020–22), when asked if the proposed legislation for Britain’s internal market broke international law, he famously (or infamously) replied: ‘Yes … in a very specific and limited way.’ Lewis becomes the eighth justice secretary to be appointed in the past 10 years.

With Lewis, is there hope for a more receptive justice secretary? He has already met with the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), something that Raab had refused to do. The initial meeting took place on 20 September 2022, and in the light of the government opening detailed discussions, the CBA paused the demonstrations that had been planned for 22 September. The CBA tweeted:

Former criminal solicitor Gareth Johnson MP becomes parliamentary under secretary of state with responsibilities including criminal legal aid and the criminal courts recovery. Lord Bellamy KC stays on as parliamentary under secretary of state in the House of Lords. His brief includes civil, family and tribunal legal aid.