The Green Party's spring conference this week has condemned the government's proposed cuts to legal aid.
In an emergency motion passed in the final session of the party's spring conference in Cardiff, the Greens called access to justice "a cornerstone of democracy" and highlighted the party's concerns that the proposed cuts to legal aid would represent a further blow to the most vulnerable in society.
Green Party deputy leader, Adrian Ramsay, said: "These proposals stand to bring misery to people fighting to resolve their problems. The plans attack the basic democratic right of equal access to justice. And we don't even have any reasonable expectation that money will really be saved.
"There is growing opposition to these proposals, including from backbench Conservative MPs. I hope the Government listens."
Designed to save £350 million, the tabled measures have already raised significant opposition, with the Bar Council suggesting that they are unlikely to save money at all, but rather would cost more than they would save (1).
The Law Society has launched a campaign against the cuts, and Tory MPs themselves have been criticising the plans (2).
The Green Party has resolved to actively campaign against these cuts, and engage with the wider campaign against them where possible. Given the level of criticism these measures have already received, the Greens believe that a government u-turn, like that on debt advice (3), might be a real possibility.
Notes
1. Stephen Cobb QC, Chairman of the Family Law Bar Association, who led the Bar Council's response, said recently: "We fear these attempted cuts, being so crude and brutal, will cost more than they save. They will trigger a surge in DIY litigants which risks gridlock in the courts, as they struggle to get justice." See http://www.barcouncil.org.uk/news/press/849.html
2. Helen Grant, Conservative MP for Maidstone and the Weald gained support from other Tories for her argument in a Commons debate on the matter. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/04/legal-aid-cuts-disaster
3. The CAB often provides advice that helps individuals avoid court. The assaults from various quarters on CAB funding is part of the reason the legal aid cuts threaten to cost more than they save. See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/04/legal-aid-cuts-disaster
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/feb/12/debt-advice-27m-government-reverses
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Text of Emergency Motion:
On the 14th of February the BBC reported that the Government's legal aid cuts plans would have devastating impact on the most vulnerable in society. These cuts, with the stated aim to save £350 million, will not only deny many accesses to legal advice and justice but are economically illiterate, with early intervention estimated to save £10 for every £1 invested.
The Government proposes to remove all legal funding for clinical negligence, welfare benefits and education cases and from the majority of debt, immigration, family, housing and employment cases and reduce it to mental health and community care; but also to severely restrict who would be entailed to receive legal at all.
This motion calls for GPEx to:
- Affirm a commitment to continuing legal aid and that equal accesses to justice is a cornerstone of democracy.
- Condemn government's proposals that will severely restrict or prevent accesses to both advice and justice to the most vulnerable in society.
- Ask that the Campaigns Co-ordinator and Committee actively campaign against the Government's current cuts to legal aid and engages with the wider campaign against legal aid cuts where appropriate.
Proposed by: Kieran Anderson
Seconded by: Richard Bearman + 85 others