Davey wins Prime Ministerial Review on Kingston's Court

20.3.02

Blair to look into proposal to close Kingston's Magistrates' Courts

At Prime Minister's Question Time on 20th March 2002, Kingston and Surbiton's Lib Dem MP, Edward Davey, asked Tony Blair about the Government's proposal to close Kingston's Magistrates' Courts, and won a commitment from the Prime Minister to look into the matter personally. Commenting after Prime Minister's Question Time, MP Edward Davey said:

"This is only a first step, but it's very welcome that the Prime Minister will now have to look into this matter.

"I feel strongly that it is madness to close Kingston's Courthouse, when it is both financially efficient and much-needed to deal with local crimes, locally.

"The Prime Minister has said he is committed to tackling youth crime and speeding up the youth justice system, so it's madness to close Kingston's Courts, when it has the busiest youth court in South West London.

"The campaign to save our Courthouse from closure is now hotting up. I hope many other people will join with our local magistrates' bench in what will still be a tough fight."

Prior to his question to the Prime Minister, Edward Davey received a detailed answer to a letter he sent last month to the Greater London Magistrates' Courts' Authority (GLMCA), the Government body that is trying to close Kingston's Court. The letter reveals far more of the GLMCA's reasoning than the recently-published consultation paper on the closure proposal, though Edward Davey believes all of these fresh arguments to be weak or flawed. Commenting, Edward Davey said:

"I find it odd that it took a letter from me to force out of the GLMCA the full thinking behind this crazy proposal. Why wasn't this information contained in their report?

"We will be examining their latest arguments and answering them in detail. The local campaign strongly feels the Government have simply got it wrong on this occasion."