Despite government promises of a shake-up, the judiciary is still largely
made up of privileged, white, elderly men, according to a survey by the Labour
Research Department.
The survey of all 774 judges sitting in English and Welsh courts found that
67 per cent went to public school, 60 per cent attended Oxford or Cambridge universities,
the UK’s highest court remains an all-male all-white bastion, the average age
of the judges is over 60, only 8 per cent of judges are women, and fewer than 1
per cent are from an ethnic minority group.
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Authors of the study said that after more than five years of Labour rule,
and considering its promised to end ‘old boy’ networks for the appointment of
judges, the judiciary does not look very different compared with 10 years ago.
In fact, the trend in the highest courts has been to increase the proportion
of those with public school backgrounds.
