The idea that City firms and wealthy litigants could pay a levy to help fund legal aid - once floated by a Conservative lord chancellor - has been revived in a ‘new vision’ for access to justice.

Solicitors Roger Smith and Nic Madge unveiled the blueprint for a new National Legal Service in Westminster at an event organised by Legal Action Group to mark 10 years since the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act came into force.

The paper says the National Legal Service would require a sustainable basis for funding. ‘Given the economic situation, money from the treasury will always be tight. It is unlikely that any government will provide significant additional funding. Even more basic needs such as hunger, education and health will take priority.’

The paper acknowledges there are no easy answers but proposes five, starting with the government needing to recognise the need to reverse the LASPO cuts and raise legal aid expenditure to the maximum level possible.

A levy should be imposed on ‘the better paid members of the legal profession’.

The paper says: ‘While many legal aid practitioners struggle to make ends meet, the profits of larger solicitors’ firms and the earnings of many successful barristers, especially those who practise in commercial and international fields, are substantial.

‘The levy could be collected by a supplement to insurance premiums, based on the taxable profits of solicitors’ firms and barristers’ earnings for the previous year, with a threshold that would mean that only the highest earners would pay.’

The paper also suggests a levy on court and hearing fees in the High Court and above.

‘This is a mechanism used in a number of US states. It is particularly important for a jurisdiction such as England and Wales, which welcomes litigation by wealthy litigants from overseas. In many of those cases, the court fee is minimal (for example, the hearing fee for a multi-million-pound claim is only £1,175).’

Other proposals include ways to recover the costs of people represented through the National Legal Service payable by losing parties in litigation.

Michael Gove MP raised the prospect of a levy during his stint as lord chancellor, telling the House of Commons in 2015 that the government was going to ask the ‘very richest in the justice system to do a little bit more’ to fund the justice system.

Conservative MP Alex Chalk revealed that he considered the possibility of a City levy to fund legal aid shortly after he was appointed justice minister in 2020.

Labour hinted this year that a levy could be back on the agenda. ‘Many global law firms have a home here. In any home, the inhabitants must recognise their shared obligations to each other. We need those businesses who benefit the most from the great social, cultural and economic advantages of this country to do more to help those who have been left furthest behind,’ shadow justice secretary Steve Reed MP said.