Such decisions prompt claims from defense lawyers that Judge Leventhal's approach is unfair to defendants.

Growing numbers of graduates are being overcharged for their student loans, it emerged today, prompting claims that the system is in "disarray".

It also prompted claims that students and lecturers should be given a bigger say on remuneration committees tasked with setting vice-chancellor pay.

The survey prompted claims that the engineering industry was being "undervalued".

Just 17 teachers have been struck off for incompetence in the last decade, figures show, prompting claims that underperformance is being "swept under the carpet".

This was rejected by management, and prompted claims in the newspapers that the workers were inflexible.

It has also emerged that ministers have held talks with private equity firms, prompting claims that they could eventually buy up struggling English universities.

The case is one of several that have prompted claims that Irish people cannot obtain a fair trial in an English court.

This practice prompted claims that the tribunal, and by extension the Church, accepted money for the forgiveness of sins.

The development is likely to prompt claims of disarray within the Department for Education.