Following discussions with the UK government, the president and deputy president of the UK Supreme Court on Wednesday resigned from their roles in the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (HKCFA).

UK Supreme Court judges have long sat on the HKCFA “in fulfillment” of the government’s obligations towards the former British colony and have done so with the support of the government, which assessed their participation “was in the UK’s national interests,” according to Supreme Court President Robert Reed.

Citing concerns over the Beijing-imposed national security law, Reed said in a statement that he and Lord Patrick Hodge had resigned as non-permanent judges in the Hong Kong court because UK Supreme court judges “cannot continue to sit in Hong Kong without appearing to endorse an administration which has departed from values of political freedom, and freedom of expression, to which the Justices of the Supreme Court are deeply committed.”

The senior judge said he had come to the conclusion in agreement with the government.

In a separate statement, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab supported the withdrawal of serving UK judges from the HKCFA.

“We have seen a systematic erosion of liberty and democracy in Hong Kong. Since the National Security Law was imposed, authorities have cracked down on free speech, the free press, and free association,” Truss said.

The foreign secretary said she welcomes and “wholeheartedly” supports the withdrawal as the situation in Hong Kong has “reached a tipping point where it is no longer tenable for British judges to sit on Hong Kong’s leading court, and would risk legitimizing oppression.”

Raab said the introduction of the national security law “flies in the face” of the Sino–British Joint Declaration.

Therefore, “having discussed at length with [the] Foreign Secretary and the President of the Supreme Court, we regretfully agree that it is no longer appropriate for serving UK judges to continue sitting in Hong Kong courts,” Raab said.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss meeting European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic for talks in central London on Feb. 11, 2022. (Rob Pinney/PA)

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Alistair Carmichael, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong, said the withdrawal is “a positive step” and called on the government to do more to support Hongkongers.

“The foreign secretary’s announcement sends a clear and vital message that the government does not support UK judges lending credibility to the corrupt Hong Kong judicial system. The imposition of the national security law has proven beyond doubt that those leading Hong Kong intend to govern by totalitarian force rather than by the will of the people. It is right that UK judges should no longer be a part of that system,” the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP said in an email to The Epoch Times.

“Today’s announcement from the foreign secretary is a positive step but it cannot be the last. Hongkongers, both those still in the city and here in the UK, still need our support,” he said.

Alan Mendoza, co-founder and executive director of foreign policy and national security at the Henry Jackson Society think tank, said the decision is “overdue but welcome.

Reacting to the news on Twitter, Mendoza said the withdrawal of British judges is “a recognition that justice is no longer being administered through the rule of law, but instead dispensed by Chinese Communist Party diktat.”