High court ruling may put government’s cuts in legal aid on the wrong side of the law

May 12th, 2011
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A High Court ruling published today may mean that the Ministry of Justice’s proposed cuts to legal aid are unlawful.

In a devastating judgment handed-down today the High Court has declared the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) attempts to cut off funding for important public interest cases concerning UK complicity in, and acts of, torture to be unlawful. In doing so, the Court made clear that cutting legal aid in order to stop litigation against the Government was “inimical to the rule of law”.

The Sound Off For Justice campaign which is fighting the government’s cuts sees this as another reason the government must stop and consult with Parliament. Sound Off For Justice have been concerned since the Green Paper on legal aid was published that part of the stated reason for the proposals was to reduce the volume of litigation brought against public bodies such as the NHS.

Mark Stobbs, Director of Legal Policy, the Law Society commented “In the light of this judgment, the MoJ must consider very carefully whether its proposals are based on unlawful criteria that would render them susceptible to being struck down if the Ministry proceed with them.”

Stobbs continues, “In this case, the Court has said that ‘[f]or the State to inhibit litigation by the denial of legal aid because the court’s judgment might be unwelcome or apparently damaging would constitute an attempt to influence the incidence of judicial decisions in the interests of government. It would therefore be frankly inimical to the rule of law.’ The Court went on to confirm that the fact that there may be other sources of funding for such litigation is not sufficient to make such cuts lawful.

Sound Off For Justice has seen a groundswell of interest from parliamentarians who are concerned with the cuts to legal aid. Cross party MPs including Lib Dem, Julian Huppert MP, have urged the government to take the Law Society proposals which will save the government £384 million while still protecting the most vulnerable in society.

  • Astrid Halberstadt- Twum

    Legal aid has contributed immensely to protect and assist the vulnerable and deprived in our society and legal sustem.
    To abolish legal aid would be detrimental to the rights of the vulnerable and destitute and leave a huge inbalance in our society

  • Kate Heather

    To cut legal aid as is proposed would create a situation of total inequality of arms. It cannot be right that people are denied access to good quality independent legal advice when they need it due to lack of fanancial means. The vulnerable in society need to be protected and institutions such as the NHS and MOD called to account.