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Carter Review (Legal Aid)

Legal aid is a very necessary service, and legal aid lawyers do a fantastic job on behalf of the clients whom they represent. Few earn large salaries for the work that they do. However, none of those incontrovertible facts is a reason not to curb excesses within the legal aid system, or to seek better value for money in a public service for which expenditure is rising a great deal faster than the rate of inflation. The problem with legal aid is that almost everyone who has anything to say in the debate has a vested interest in increasing the amount that is spent on it. [Interruption.] I know that some hon. Members disagree with me. I have listened patiently to their views, so I hope that they will have the decency to listen to a different point of view. My comment about vested interest applies to lawyers and to members of the public who qualify for legal aid. It applies to the courts, the police and many pressure groups.