Andy Slaughter appointed as Solicitor General

Andy Slaughter MP at Green Days in Chiswick

Burnham promises to “bring back hope”

Andy Slaughter has been given the post of Solicitor General.

The MP for Hammersmith & Chiswick, who is a barrister and chaired the Justice Select Committee in Keir Starmer’s government, received the call from new Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Tuesday (21 July).

Unveiling his new Cabinet, Andy Burnham said he wanted to “bring back hope” to Britain, acknowledging people were “fed up” with politics.

Giving a speech outside No 10 Downing Street, he said the government would announce “some breathing space” for people regarding the cost of living. His first move as Prime Minister has been to cut VAT from household electricity bills, effective from 1 October.

In a guest blog for The Chiswick Calendar last week, Andy Slaughter wrote:

‘I agree that Keir, whom I like and respect, has had a pretty brutal defenestration, but politics is a rough business.

‘He has a list of achievements of which to be proud, but there is an impatience in the country, properly reflected in the views of MPs, that wishes the government to go faster in dealing with the problems facing us’.

READ ALSO: Andy Slaughter MP on why Andy Burnham is the right man for a daunting job

Now it will be his responsibility as well as the new Prime Minister’s to make sure than happens.

Huge tasks ahead

The Solicitor General is one of the government’s senior law officers. He will support the Attorney General for England and Wales in providing legal advice to the government and overseeing parts of the justice system.

Together with the Attorney General, he now has responsibility for several legal organizations, including the Government Legal Department, which provides legal services to government departments.

He will share responsibility for overseeing the Crown Prosecution Service and the Serious Fraud Office. While these are independent bodies, the Government’s law officers have certain statutory oversight responsibilities.

The legal system has huge problems that need urgent attention, not least the huge backlogs in courts and in asylum cases. A Downing Street spokesman has already confirmed that the incoming Prime Minister has abandoned plans to scrap jury trials in a swathe of criminal cases.

‘The biggest challenge he and all of us face is the ability to fund necessary public spending’ the MP for Hammersmith & Chiswick wrote last week.

‘This will be Burnham’s continuing test. Taxation is high, borrowing is high, growth stalled, even if temporarily, because of the US-Iran war.

‘The double whammy of Russian aggression and American ambivalence to NATO means we will have to spend more on defence at a time of corridor care in the NHS and calls for more to be spent on the criminal justice system.

‘It is a daunting task. However, the mood in Parliament is lifted, there is a renewed feeling that change for the better is possible’.