Jon Robins canvasses opinion on the post-LASPO future
“I genuinely believe ‘access to justice’ is the hallmark of a civilised society.” So said justice secretary, Ken Clarke, introducing his government’s legal aid reforms that, some 18 months later, became the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO).
Such an apparently unequivocal assertion rather begs the question, what would the coalition government have done to the legal aid system if the justice secretary wasn’t quite so committed to “access to justice”? LASPO, of course, was predicated on one idea above all others: that of removing £350m from a total £2.2bn scheme.
Debating access
The idea of “access to justice” was the subject of a panel debate I chaired this month at the House of Commons. It was organised by the JusticeGap, together with Hackney Community Law Centre (HCLC) and speakers included former justice secretary Lord Willy Bach, who led the opposition to the LASPO Bill in the House of Lords; Roger Smith, NLJ columnist and director of Justice; the human rights barrister Matthew Ryder, QC of Matrix Chambers; and Diane Abbott,
