LETTER: Legal Aid cuts will hit the poor
The president of our Supreme Court, Lord Neuberger, has warned the proposed cuts in legal aid are a false economy and deny some of our most vulnerable people their right to justice in our court system.
The already overloaded court system will become clogged up with cases of people who cannot afford legal representation, representing themselves and putting forward arguments and defences that a legal aid or duty solicitor would do more efficiently in half the time.
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Hide AdJohn Fassenfelt, president of the Magistrates’ Association, agrees with Lord Neuberger’s sentiments on this issue and expressed them to the Justice Select Committee on February 27th. Chris Grayling, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, was present but seems to have refused to listen.
The English justice system has been the envy of the world but now runs the risk of being biased in favour of those that can afford to buy justice and those that can not. The late Lord Denning may have said “the law like the Ritz is open to all” and this will remain so for cases of libel and slander with the failure of the coalition to implement Leveson – only those who can afford it use these courts. But failing to provide legal aid for those poor people who need it is tantamount to walking past on the other side of the road and not being a Good Samaritan.
AZHAR ALI
Labour Candidate,
Nelson South, LCC 2013