Clause 6
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill
9:45 am
Henry Bellingham (Shadow Minister, Constitutional Affairs; North West Norfolk, Conservative)
This is a small, probing amendment. I do not plan to detain the Committee for more than a minute or so. The clause is headed, “Certain judges who are also judges of First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal” and runs through a number of categories of different people, including judges of a Court of Session and circuit judges. The amendment would remove the final category, which
“is a District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts)”.
We are trying to maintain consistency. The clause confers automatic qualifications to various types of judges to become tribunal judges. We are not saying that
“a District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts)”
should not be appointed; we are saying that they should not necessarily qualify automatically. The list is wide ranging. Subsection (1) takes it too far.
The amendment is a probing amendment, and we are entitled to ask questions. I am not being pedantic; I am being, I hope, consistent in my approach. I should like the Minister to clarify the reason why the clause extends that automatic right as far as it does.