Mounting concerns over legal aid

The proposals focus on legal aid in civil rather than criminal cases

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The government's plans to cut legal aid in England and Wales return to Parliament later as opposition mounts from lawyers and campaigners.

The Ministry of Justice aims to slash £300m from the £2.1bn legal aid bill.

Under the proposals, legal aid will not be eligible in a much broader range of civil cases than at present.

Ahead of the bill's second reading, the Law Society said the bill focused on short-term budget gain and would end up leading to more crime.

Under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, ministers say they want to end legal aid for:

Private family law cases, such as divorce and custody battlesClinical negligence claimsEmployment and education lawImmigration, other than where someone is detainedSome debt, housing and benefit issues.

The government says that domestic violence cases will still receive legal aid and it intends to expand the definition to include mental and sexual abuse.

But Linda Lee, president of the Law Society, said the cuts to legal aid would lead to more crime and penalise victims.

“Courts are and should be a last resort but they should be a last resort which is accessible to all, rich and poor alike”

Baroness Hale UK Supreme Court Justice

The society, backed by other campaigners and charities, is publishing an analysis of the bill, which says it will end up costing more than it initially saves.

"The prime minister and the government want to reduce crime and the deficit," she said.

"If they force the bill through Parliament in its current form, they risk the opposite. The bill focuses on only short-term budget-gain and not the long-term consequences.

"The Justice Bill is littered with mistakes, inaccuracies and lacks detailed impact assessments. The figures and calculations the government have used for the Justice Bill are based on assumptions rather than evidence.

"This bill leaves our civil justice system at the edge of an abyss beyond which we do not know where we are destined."

The Law Centres Federation says that at least 18 of 52 centres serving poor communities could be forced to close because of the cuts.

On Monday, Baroness Hale, one of the UK's Supreme Court Justices, became the most high-profile legal figure to question the government's proposals.

In a speech she said the reforms would have a "disproportionate effect upon the poorest and most vulnerable in society."

"If we really want to spend less on lawyers we have to be prepared to spend more on a very different style of court from the ones which we are used to," she said.

"We have to be prepared to spend money on initial advice and assistance schemes because that is where most problems are solved.

"Courts are and should be a last resort but they should be a last resort which is accessible to all, rich and poor alike.

"The Big Society will be the big loser if everyone does not believe that the law is there for them."

This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-politics-13951626

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