Supreme Court justice Lady Hale (pictured) has warned that the government’s planned legal aid cuts are a ‘false economy’ that will have a ‘disproportionate impact upon the poorest and most vulnerable in society’.
Hale told the annual Law Centres Federation conference last weekend that while it is not the proper role of a judge to attack government policy, ‘it is the proper role of the judges to warn the government of the consequences of the particular choices they make in pursuit of their policies.’
The comments of a Supreme Court judge will add weight to demands from peers across the political spectrum for amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, following its second reading in the House of Lords.
Hale said that there had been no shortage of warnings about the bill ‘because the consequences are on several different levels’.
She said that the worst feature of the proposed reforms is their ‘all or nothing character’ where advice, help and representation are removed in areas of law that will no longer be publicly funded. ‘Surely we can warn government that this is a false economy,’ said Hale.
Among the amendments sought to the bill are an independent impact assessment of the measures; retaining legal aid for social welfare law and clinical negligence; broadening the definition of domestic violence; and enabling restrained funds to be released to fund a defendant’s representation.
Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said: ‘We expect to see further amendments tabled before the bill is examined by the Lords Committee, reflecting the wide-ranging concerns expressed in the second reading debate.’
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