A Conservative MP has told members of the Sentencing Council to ‘actually stand for election’ if they want to ‘pursue this kind of policy’.
Philip Davies called the new guidelines on mitigating circumstances ‘political decisions, not legal decisions’ and accused the 15 members of the council of trying to ‘sneak in their left-wing political views’.
Speaking on GB News, Philip Davies MP said: “This is completely unacceptable; it's an absolute outrage to be perfectly honest. You've got 15 unelected, unaccountable members of the Sentencing Council; in effect the great and the good of the liberal elite in the legal profession, in effect, deciding themselves on no basis whatsoever that for a whole swathe of the population, they can now get lighter sentences if you've experienced discrimination and you've had a negative experience of authority.
“I mean, what does that mean? Basically, if you got told off by your teachers when you were 10 years old, does that mean you get a lighter sentence now?
“All these things are patronising and they’re completely unacceptable. They've lost the plot, these people at the Sentencing Council.
“I put in an objection to these proposals during the consultation as did Alex Chalk, which they've completely ignored.
“Actually, this mitigation can be used every time somebody commits a crime, even if it's the 35th time they've appeared in court. This mitigation will still be able to be used every single time, and it would apply to every crime as well.
“I mean, there are some people I don't happen to agree with them, who say, well, look, if you're in deprivation and you commit shoplifting, that might be a mitigation that should be taken into consideration. I mean, I don't think it should, but some people might make that case.
“This is completely nuts and these are political decisions, not legal decisions. And I would say to the 15 members of the Sentencing Council, many of them judges and lawyers, if they want to pursue this kind of policy, they can actually stand for election like the rest of us and make their argument to the electorate. Not trying to sneak in the left wing political views through the back door because of the position that they've got.
“These are not people speaking as lawyers. They're speaking as lefties who are trying to pursue their own political agenda and it’s outrageous.”
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