Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly has promised to forge ahead with the government’s court closure programme, after being encouraged by early results.

Speaking to a Law Society fringe meeting at the Conservative Party conference, Djanogly revealed that around a third of the 142 planned closures have already taken place.

With the Ministry of Justice needing to find £2bn in savings, the court closures are an essential feature of a deficit reduction programme, he added.

Djanogly said he was heartened by early feedback from practitioners. ‘You have to say quite honestly we’re going to have a better court service with the savings we’re making and moving utilisation of existing courts up to 85%.

‘In the remaining courts people will find a better situation in which to be tried and in which witnesses can have better facilities.

‘All of that is happening already and the results are effective, but we need to go further and realise justice is in the last century if not the century before.’