Most senior lawyer in inquiry that looks at child abuse in Westminster and the Church set to quit

THE most senior lawyer at the national child abuse inquiry is poised to quit, it emerged last night.

Ben Emmerson, QC, counsel to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, is understood to disagree with the new chairwoman about the future of the investigation.

He is thought to want a restructuring to reduce the inquiry’s workload, while Professor Jay believes it should stick to the original terms of reference.

The inquiry – expected to run for a decade - is examining claims of wide-ranging abuse including in Westminster, the Church, schools and armed forces.

According to The Times, Mr Emmerson is understood to have written to members of his legal team to say he is “actively considering” his position.

Theresa May previously hailed him as “one of the UK’s most distinguished lawyers in the field of human rights law”.

She appointed him after she announced the inquiry two years ago.

But his resignation would raise further questions about her judgement in setting up the inquiry, after the first three chairwomen stepped down.

The inquiry has yet to hold an evidence session in spite of gathering millions of pages of documents.

Matrix Chambers in London, which Mr Emmerson co-founded, said that he was “declining to comment at this time”.

A spokesman for the inquiry said Mr Emmerson had not resigned but refused to answer further questions.

Professor Jay has acknowledged the “substantial challenge” posed by the inquiry but said this month: “I have no intention of asking the home secretary to revise or reduce our terms of reference. I am confident that we can adapt our working methods to make our task more manageable and to progress with our work more quickly.”

Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, has also said “the terms of reference that were set up originally were the right ones”.