Editorial: The Supreme Court issues a welcome ruling on Shamima Begum's citizenship

​A major political problem of recent years in the UK, bordering on a crisis, is the extent to which the courts have been able to intrude on policy.​

This is an emerging and complicated problem that is apparent in Northern Ireland too, and has its origins in the rise of very sophisticated, and indeed in many respects welcome, systems of laws.

Human rights is of course at the heart of any civilised society, and it is the entrenched freedoms of the west and the secure rule of law that distinguishes us from countries such as Russia and China.

But the courts have come ever more powerful politically. This is a serious source of contention in the United States, where the Supreme Court is politically appointed and the heart of the so-called system of checks and balances. The tensions in the US over that court are as great as they have ever been.

The UK system is different, and is further complicated by us having been a member of the European Union, and still being a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). But the way in which British courts have, for example, been able almost to thwart government policy on immigration is an example of a development that has brought the power of judges almost to crisis level.

However, the UK supreme court has ruled that Shamima Begum will not be allowed to challenge the removal of her British citizenship. She was trying to overturn the previous government's decision to revoke her citizenship on after she travelled to Syria as a teenager to join the Islamic State terror group.

This is a welcome setback for the trend in which judges overrule elected governments on critical matters of decision making. There are further, serious concerns about the role of the ECHR and Ms Begum might yet appeal to that court. For now, however, the supreme court decision is welcome.