MPs question Attorney General on range of issues
The cross-party Justice Committee is holding one of its regular sessions looking at the work of the Attorney General, the main legal adviser to the Government, Rt Hon Victoria Prentis KC MP. This is her first appearance before a select committee since her appointment as Attorney General in October 2022.
Meeting details
The Justice Committee will question Ms Prentis about the role of the Attorney General – often seen as sitting at the intersection of law and politics – including the extent of her independence from government. She is expected to be asked about the approach her office takes to legal risk and the Government’s plans to scrap, under the Retained EU Law Bill, a number of rules and regulations that were enacted when the UK was a member of the EU.
The role of the Attorney General’s office in overseeing two independent prosecuting departments, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Serious Fraud Office, is likely to be raised. The Committee will also be hearing from the Solicitor General, Michael Tomlinson KC MP, and expects to discuss the mechanism that allows prison sentences seen as too lenient to be reviewed – the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.
The Committee may also ask about the work of the adviser the Attorney General appointed to work on war crimes in Ukraine. Sir Howard Morrison KC was appointed in March 2022 to work with Ukraine’s Prosecutor General on war crimes committed by Russia in the war-torn country.