Letters | UK government has done Hong Kong a disservice with its role in exit of Supreme Court judges
- Readers discuss the political decision to withdraw UK judges from Hong Kong’s top court, how the next Hong Kong administration can do better, and the benefits of a sophisticated mobile app for prisons and court services
The UK fought hard during the negotiations leading to the Sino-British Joint Declaration to provide for judges from the UK and other common law jurisdictions to sit on the Court of Final Appeal. Beijing did not want them but nevertheless agreed.
Once the UK government made its decision to put an end to this well-established and highly successful arrangement, the two serving justices of the UK Supreme Court had no real choice but to withdraw from the Court of Final Appeal. They could not act inconsistently with the UK government’s declared Foreign Office policy position while still serving as UK Supreme Court justices. On the other hand, retired UK judges are not subject to such constraint and are free to decide for themselves whether or not to continue as members of the Court of Final Appeal. I hope sincerely that they will.