Judges call for abolition of PM’s honours

Former Supreme Court justices Lord Sumption and Lord Neuberger as well as Dominic Grieve KC, former attorney general, are among the 34 signatories of a letter sent to The Times calling on the next government to bring an end to the “spiral of declining trust in government”.

The letter, co-ordinated by the Institute for Government, the University College London Constitution Unit, and the UK Governance Project, also calls for the ministerial code to be independently enforced. As it stands it is regulated according to the prime minister’s discretion.

“Trust in politics, and in the people and institutions of public life in the UK, is at an all-time low. This is a serious problem for the health of our democracy and is indicative of the need for substantial improvement in the governance of the UK. It must be urgently addressed by whichever party forms the next government,” the authors write.

“This election is a rare opportunity to reverse the spiral of declining trust in government — and it is an opportunity that would be dangerous to miss. Whoever enters No 10 on July 5 must seize it.”

The House of Lords has 785 members, making it the biggest upper chamber in the world.