Lady Carr asks party leaders to respect judicial independence, as Starmer calls decision to grant family asylum a ‘legal loophole’

England and Wales’s most senior judge has written to Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch about an “unacceptable” exchange at prime minister’s questions, saying she was “deeply troubled” by the discussion on a Palestinian family’s asylum case.

Lady Sue Carr, the lady chief justice, criticised the Conservative leader’s questions about the case, in which a family from Gaza had applied through a scheme designed for Ukrainian refugees.