Last week, the government secured the vote to cut foreign aid by nearly £4 billion. The vote was won with 333 votes to 298 and means that now the UK is the only G7 member that has cut aid during the global pandemic. These cuts will devastate millions and mean that many charities and organisations…

In her most recent report, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner outlined that the criminal and family justice system is “in chaos”. There is a crisis with cases of domestic violence surging and survivors largely left without support. Last year, London’s Victims Commissioner even condemned the family courts for what she said was “state-sanctioned abuse”. The justice…

The Home Office’s New Plan for Immigration is its latest attack on the right to asylum. According to Home Secretary Priti Patel, the “heart of the plan” is “fairness” and will “fix” the “broken system”. Moreover, in her statement to Parliament, she inferred that those who don’t like the plan “lack compassion”. This new plan,…

Following a long, drawn-out legal battle that began three years ago, thousands of current and former Tesco employees have won a big victory in their fight for equal pay. In a landmark decision made by the European Court of Justice (CJEU) against the supermarket chain, billions may be owed in back pay claims. But how…

Sentience is often defined as the ability to perceive or feel things, but it is much more than that. It is the capacity to feel emotions, form connections and relationships and crucially, develop a personality. For hundreds of years, scientists and philosophers have quarrelled over whether or not animals have sentience. However, the evidence now…

Non-profit organisation Humane Being is launching what it says is the first legal fight against factory farming in the world. Arguing that the UK government is not doing enough to eradicate intensive farming, the group, backed by an impressive legal team, has issued a letter before action to the government. The group’s campaign Scrap Factory…

Amid liberalised drug reforms across the US, the UK maintains its hardline “war on drugs”, with cannabis categorised as a class b drug. This followed a reclassification from class C in 2009. Despite this, the UK is currently the biggest producer of medical cannabis in the world. Currently, under the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA),…

It’s estimated that 40% of private law children cases now involve allegations of domestic abuse in the UK. This means that family courts engage with this issue in around 22,000 cases each year. Despite the prevalence of these allegations, family courts have been found to victimise survivors of rape and domestic abuse time and time…

“Dangerous,” “disproportionate,” “a power-grab,” “poorly-thought-out,” these are just some of the ways critics have described the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. In a time when trust in the police has been repeatedly weakened and eroded, Home Secretary Priti Patel is introducing a bill that would afford them more power. According to ministers, recent…

As the Covid-19 pandemic pushes the criminal case backlog to the brink, criminal legal aid (CLA) lies in tatters. Subjected to relentless cuts since the introduction of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO), the sector has struggled to stay afloat. While the Criminal Legal Aid Review is currently examining the…