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Carter Review (Legal Aid)

I draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Interests. Some Members present will know that I am a practising member of the Bar, and that I practise in fields funded by legal aid. I have thought long and hard before rising to speak, and before attending this debate. I have attended none until this one, because it has been extremely difficult for me to see how I could make a speech to the House on a subject of such close financial interest and concern to me. After careful reflection and consultation with many people in the profession whom I have known for many years, I have found that I am duty bound to speak on a subject of such grave concern not only to the legal profession of which I have long been a member but, I firmly and passionately believe, to the wider public interest, which is being defeated and damaged by the Government’s proposed measures. The quality of justice and the judiciary in this country is one of the proudest assets of which we can boast. When I say ““the quality of justice””, I refer to all those involved in the administration of justice in this country. We sometimes forget that when we speak of the administration of justice, we are talking not only of those who dispense justice from the bench, the magistrates courts, the Crown courts, the High Courts and the county courts right up to the House of Lords itself. Critically, we are also talking of those who assist the administration of justice in an essential way—those who represent people before the courts, whether they be solicitors or members of the Bar. It is upon their integrity, competence and willingness to commit themselves to their clients’ cause—their decision to go that extra mile to discern whether the interests of justice help their client and to discover a particular way to assist them—that the administration of justice integrally and importantly depends. All members of the justice system administered in this country should do their job with the maximum vigour. Only that guarantees the system’s success. During the 25 years for which I have practised, I have seen the most breathtaking commitment. People not remunerated at all well have given their time—frequently knowing that they will not be paid for it, or certainly not paid at any commercial rate—trying, at 9 o’clock in the evening, to find a bail hostel for a drug addict; trying to find a probation officer to give their client a chance and to look into his case; trying to find a way to help their client in a criminal legal aid case to avoid the spiral of imprisonment and continuing drug addiction. I have seen such things personally. I have seen how solicitors paid on legal aid contribute every day with their effort, energy and dedication to the administration of our justice system. We should be proud of that system, and we should be proud of them. Their remuneration does not make them fat cats, although I suspect that many people regard them as such, and I often wonder whether this Government do too. I say more in sorrow than in anger that I cannot help feeling that some of the measures shortly to be put before the House are driven by what we have seen from this Government in recent years: a regrettable tendency to denigrate those who practise in the criminal justice system. I do not mean only judges, although it is true that the Executive have repeatedly denigrated them. All sorts of extraordinary remarks have been made not only about judges, but about other practitioners in the field. I seem to recall that a former Home Secretary of this Government referred two or three years ago to ““bent briefs”” who tried too hard for their clients. I am not sure that the two are necessarily related. However, that kind of remark and that kind of atmosphere seem to be driving what is almost contempt for those involved in legal aid and the legal profession—particularly those engaged in representing people in the criminal courts. The measures will lead to a brutal degradation of legal services. Some 600 to 1,100 firms will close or merge. Black and minority ethnic solicitors will be particularly affected, as will rural firms in constituencies such as mine. The plight of those firms is the burden of my short speech. From time to time in my surgeries, I see people at their wits’ end, unable to get help with legal problems that are desperately and obviously important to them; other hon. Members must have similar experiences. For example, I have seen a lady with learning disabilities, who was married to a violent husband, and a man whose stepmother had left a disputed will, the money from which would have set him up and enabled him to escape poverty. There are so many ways in which legal problems can go to the root of somebody’s life. Unless such people can easily get advice and help, the problem of going to the law to tackle the issue that stands in their way can often be insurmountable. My constituency of Torridge and West Devon is very rural. It consists of scattered villages, widely dispersed rural communities and a number of market towns. In those towns, there will be perhaps one or two long-established family firms. Often they do a small proportion of legal aid work, to the best of their ability and with extraordinary professional integrity in the service of their communities. They are not well paid for that work. Those firms—certainly the legal aid side of their practices—are going to face the axe. Many have written to me expressing their real concern. If a person lives near Holsworthy or Bideford in my constituency and the one or two legal firms stop taking legal aid cases, they will have to travel 50 or 100 miles to reach somebody who will give them the service. What type of service is that for the elderly, infirm or learning disabled? How will they gain access to those services? I tell the Minister that that is a real problem even now, although the one or two firms in my area at least give me somebody to whom to send such cases. However, if those firms’ legal aid sides go out of business, to whom will I send such cases? Thankfully, Bideford has a citizens advice bureau, which has a franchise from the Legal Services Commission, and I pay tribute to the extraordinary work that it does. If it were not for that bureau, there would be a desert of legal services in my part of northern Devon—there would be none. People would have to travel to Barnstaple, which could involve a journey of as much as 50 or 60 miles there and back, or to Exeter or Plymouth to receive the services that they needed. I urge the Minister to understand that the measures will have a direct human impact on people whom I understood it was part of her political philosophy to defend. She will be hurting those people; this Government will be hurting those people. I find it inexpressibly sad that the measures are being rushed through. They have been introduced speedily, with no allowance for adjustment and no pilots that could have shown the effect that they will have on the fragile, rural legal services framework—and, I accept, other services in urban areas. We have not been able to see how they will work before they damage people. I appreciate that there must be a proper concern for economy and for saving money. The legal aid budget has risen, and I completely understand why the Government wish to save money. However, they must balance that against the hurt and damage that they will cause, particularly to those vulnerable sections of our community. I speak particularly for those in rural areas.