Sir Geoffrey Palmer

Chris Finlayson has pointed out the inappropriateness of the President of the Law Commission also being a major Labour Party donor.

I’ve actually been concerned for sometime that Sir Geoffrey has expanded the traditional role of the Commission to become the PM’s personal law drafter such as on the Bradford Bill.

I’m a huge fan of the Law Commission for its traditional role. It is one of the few areas of Government which is proactive not reactive – looking at different areas of law and proposing how we can improve them. And their work on sedition is a good example of that.

But they seem to be often going beyond that, and almost like a law firm proposing specific amendments. That as far as I know is not their role. We have Parliamentary Counsel Office for that, plus Crown Law and Ministry of Justice can advise on such things. The Law Commission should be the big picture stuff IMO.