The new legal aid minister refused to rule out more legal aid cuts in his first press interview last week.

Jonathan Djanogly (pictured) also said no decision had been made on whether the coalition would proceed with the Labour government’s plans to consolidate the criminal defence market.

He added that, if there are to be fewer providers, the Ministry of Justice would need to look at ways to engage smaller firms in rural areas and ethnic minority firms in urban areas, perhaps through sub-contracting or joint working arrangements.

‘Barristers will also want to engage in the process and there is the potential for barristers to take contracts rather than solicitors,’ he said.

Djanogly confirmed that the legal aid cuts announced by the previous government would go ahead. He added that the department as a whole must make cuts to its £9.2bn budget, and ‘if there are cost savings to be made, legal aid will be part of that’.

Djanogly said the department is carrying out a ‘policy assessment’ examining alternative ways to deliver legal aid, including using the interest from solicitors’ client accounts, as in France and Australia; the use of before-the-event insurance, as in Germany; and so-called ‘polluter pays’ mechanisms. A consultation on the review will be published in late autumn.

The former partner at City firm SJ Berwin added that he wanted to ‘inject political leadership’ into the issue of legal aid. ‘We’ve listened to the legal profession, whom we appreciate have been upset by the lack of strategic thinking in this area,’ he said.

The minister said the MoJ will make other savings by minimising staff recruitment and IT spend. Projects to refurbish one magistrates’ court and build a new youth prison have already been cancelled.

Djanogly said he wanted to improve the efficiency of the courts. ‘At the moment the Crown court business has been going up while the magistrates’ court work has declined. We need to change this,’ he said.