Is it really possible to move on from the LASPO debate, asks Jon Robins
There comes a time after any traumatic event—the breakup of a relationship, the passing of a loved one—when it’s simply time to move on, and so it is with the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO).
Well, at least that seemed to be Lord McNally’s message in his first speech as legal aid minister post-reshuffle this month. “LASPO was bruising for everyone concerned, but I hope—whatever the disagreements of the past—we can all agree that the priority now is to look to the future,” the Lib Dem peer told delegates at the Legal Aid Practitioners Group (LAPG) annual conference at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London earlier this month. Later, McNally warned campaigners in slightly more brusque fashion: “If you think you can re-run the LASPO-debate, I think you are going to go down a cul-de-sac.”
Life after LASPO
But not everyone is quite so happy to move on. As far as ministers were concerned, the LASPO cuts were “done and
