The Constitution Unit has just begun a new three-year project on The Politics of Judicial Independence, which will seek to answer a range of questions relating to the meaning and extent of judicial independence in Britain, particularly in the light of the significant constitutional changes brought about by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. Judicial independence is particularly in focus at the moment as the Public Bodies Bill is before Parliament. In its present form the Bill gives ministers the power to abolish a list of quangos including some quasi-judicial bodies (see Robert Hazell’s earlier post).

The project will be launched by a lecture delivered by Lord Phillips (President of the Supreme Court) on ‘Judicial Independence and Accountablity: A View from the Supreme Court’. It will take place in the Gustave Tuck lecture theatre in UCL on Tuesday, 8^th February 2010 at 5.45pm (for a 6pm start). For further details, and to book a place, see the Unit’s event page.