‘Disgusting’ to say UK has two-tier justice system, attorney general tells BBC

Claims the UK has two-tier justice are “disgusting” and “wrong”, the attorney general has said.

In his first major interview, Lord Hermer told the BBC that politicians using the phrase needed to think about the “dangers” they were posing to the UK’s “essential institutions”.

Lord Hermer, who is the government’s chief legal adviser, also said he was “untroubled” by criticism of his work as a barrister before entering politics.

Accusations that the UK operates a two-tier justice system emerged following the riots in the summer of 2024, with some arguing that the rioters were treated unduly harshly by police and the courts.

In an interview for a BBC Radio 4 documentary, Starmer’s Stormy Year, Lord Hermer said: “What some people were seeking to do, bringing up ‘two-tier’, was to make a…