On Monday 17 March 2025, Nick Timothy MP asked the Justice Minister about the racist sentencing guidelines that treat minorities preferentially, and the Equal Treatment Bench Book which says, “to treat some persons equally, we must treat them differently”.
Shamefully, the minister, Sir Nicholas Dakin, abdicated responsibility.
As Mr Timothy said: “It is obviously ridiculous that the Justice Secretary is on her knees before a quango, asking it to respect the principle of equality before the law, but this is not the only example.
The Judicial College’s equal treatment handbook says: “to treat some persons equally, we must treat them differently.” Will the Minister condemn that logic and say, “No, we must not treat defendants differently because of their race or religion”?
Here is Sir Nicholas’s reply: “The Government do not believe that there should be differential treatment before the law. The Lord Chancellor has been very clear about that. The “Equal Treatment Bench Book”, to which the hon. Member alludes, is written by and for the judges. Ministers have no involvement whatsoever in its content.”
