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NOVEMBER ISSUE 3
Labour MPs have fired a renewed attack on the impact of the government's legal aid reforms, suggesting justice will be a central theme at the opposition party's conference in Brighton next week (24 September – 27 September).
The Bach Commission on access to justice, set up by Labour peer Lord Bach, will present its final report at the conference on Monday. The commission published its interim findings last year.
In response to a swathe of parliamentary questions on the subject the Justice Minister Dominic Raab has said he is 'currently considering' the planned post-implementation review and will make an announcement 'in due course'. The Justice Minister added maintaining access to justice 'remains absolutely vital and continues to be at the heart our reforms. Our legal aid reforms are reducing costs to taxpayers whilst still providing legal help to those who need it most'.
Labour Party attack Government Legal Aid Reforms
The president of the Supreme Court appears to have compared UK governments to 'repressive totalitarian regimes' as part of a scathing attack on legal aid reforms.
Lord Neuberger, who retires this year, told the Australian Bar Association's conference on Monday that access to justice is a practical, not hypothetical, requirement.
He said: 'The sad truth is that in countries with a long peaceful and democratic history such as the UK (and, I suspect, Australia), we face the serious risk that the rule of law is first taken for granted, is next consequently ignored, and is then lost, and only then does everyone realise how absolutely fundamental it was to society.
'It is peculiarly ironic that this is happening at a time when we have never been more concerned to ensure that all citizens enjoy rights.'
Neuberger said it 'verges on the hypocritical for governments to bestow rights on citizens while doing very little to ensure that those rights are enforceable. It has faint echoes of the familiar and depressing sight of repressive totalitarian regimes producing wonderful constitutions and then ignoring them'.
The government's record on making money available to those needing legal advice and representation has been 'patchy', he said. It was 'frankly very hard to defend' the system introduced by the 'flag-wavingly named' Access to Justice Act 1999.
In theory, the reform allowed claimants to obtain access to the courts by ensuring they did not have to pay much in costs if they lost and recovered all their costs if they won, he noted.
If that sounds too good to be true, it is because it is,' he said.
The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 mitigated 'some of the more unfortunate consequences' of the 1999 Act in civil justice, but it 'also confirmed a severe shrinking' of legal aid availability for civil law cases and a 'severe shrinking' in most private family law cases.
Neuberger continued: 'Many people, including me, feel that things took a wrong turning in civil legal aid in 1999 and we have all been busy hoping or even trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again - but like all the King's horses and all the King's men, I am not sure that we can do it.'
The 1999 Act was introduced on the back of an assertion that civil legal aid cost too much and 'there is reason to doubt some of the figures on which that assertion was based', he added.
Law Society president Robert Bourns said Neuberger's comments 'add further weight' to the central message of Chancery Lane's LASPO Four Years On report. 'The bottom line is that cuts to legal aid have had a massive impact on people's ability to enforce and defend their rights. If you cannot access advice or protect your rights, then effectively they do not exist,' he added.
Andrew Langdon QC, Bar Council chair, said a 'complete rethink' is needed on legal aid availability and sufficiency.
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GREEN PARTY RESPOND TO NO MAD LAWS.
The Green Party has given a detailed response to No Mad Laws' briefing paper, which we sent to all the major parties ahead of tomorrow's General Election.
Highlighting Caroline Lucas MP's longstanding membership of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Gypsies and Travellers, a party spokesperson added that Caroline is:
very concerned to see planning laws revised to ensure sufficient provision of permanent and temporary Gypsy and Traveller sites, something she has raised on numerous occasions in Parliament. She also campaigned against the removal of legal aid for judicial reviews and and for housing cases.
They highlighted Green Party policy which says:
The Green Party recognises that Gypsies and other Travellers are sections of society which are greatly disadvantaged and discriminated against. We recognise that the travelling people have ancient, valuable and valid lifestyles and cultures, and have the right to preserve these.
Legislation concerning Travellers should aim to ensure equal rights and community obligations for Travellers as citizens, without imposing unwanted conformity to the values and lifestyle of the dominant culture.
Finally, the party committed that it will:
look seriously at the various aspects of the briefing paper and will aim to update our policy accordingly.
The Labour Party has already declared its comprehensive support of the No Mad Laws' campaign.
No response has been received from the other major parties.
Bach Commission's report on access to justice launched
Written on 27 September 2017.
The Bach Commission's report on access to justice was formally launched at the Labour Party conference in Brighton this week with a call for cross-party consensus. Presenting the report, Lord Bach (barrister Willy Bach) said he had forgiven the government for its two-line statement in response.
The commission proposes a Right to Justice Act, which would codify and supplement existing rights and establish a new right for individuals to receive reasonable legal assistance, at a cost they can afford. A newly established independent body, the Justice Commission, would promote, develop and enforce this right.
The report has not been adopted as official Labour party policy but Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon said the 'pioneering' report 'will form a key part of the next manifesto'.
LASPO: four years on
Written on 12 July 2017.
The Law Society has published a report on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO), assessing the impact of the Act since it came into force four years ago.
Unsurprisingly, the report’s conclusions regarding the changes to legal aid are not positive. The report states that the Act – as predicted by the Law Society during the passage of the bill – has had a corrosive impact on access to justice. Large numbers of people, including children and those on low incomes, are now excluded from whole areas of free or subsidised legal advice.
This has had an impact on the wider justice system as a whole and resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of people representing themselves in court. The consequence has been a severe strain on the court system as people struggle to understand court procedures and their legal entitlements, thus cases involving them take longer to resolve.
Finally, the report argues the reduction of legal aid has increased the burden on public services. As an example, in housing law legal aid is still available to defend possession proceedings – but only where loss of a home is imminent. Free, and early, legal advice could address the issue before getting to this stage.
The Law Society welcomed the previous government’s announcement of a review into LAPSO and “hope that this opportunity to address some of the adverse consequences of the Act is taken”.
