Alistair MacDonald: British justice will pay the price for Minister’s meddling

Chris Grayling, Minister of Justice and the first leader of our judicial system in 400 years not to have any legal background, will wipe that away at a stroke to save money.

The Government claim these reforms are about cutting legal aid to the wealthiest individuals, but with a cap of £37,500 joint household disposable income, it will be hard-working families hit hardest yet again. He also claims that they won’t have a negative impact on the criminal justice system, despite protest to the contrary from the Law Society, the Bar Council, the Criminal Bar Association and several senior judges.

You may say that as a law-abiding citizen these changes won’t affect me, but in my experience ordinary hard 
working people are involved 
in thousands of cases every 
year because they defend 
their homes against a burglar, 
clip a cyclist accidently in their cars, become involved in a 
dispute with their neighbour 
or their sons or daughters get 
into trouble on a night out, and so on.

As the system is today, you will be able to choose a lawyer and will be granted legal aid. If convicted, a judge may order you to pay some of those fees or indeed all of them.

Choice is important. For example, women often want to have a female lawyer and someone on a motoring charge will want to choose a lawyer who specialises in that area. Mr Grayling’s reforms turn the entire system on its head.

Under Grayling’s law, any household with a joint disposable income of £37,500 must pay
 their own legal fees. So be prepared to have to remortgage your home or take out a bank loan if ever you or yours make a mistake that goes all the way to court where it is often a complex process involving expert witnesses, forensic specialists and new technology, all of which has to be paid for.

It appears, however, that the public are waking up to the goings on inside the Ministry of Justice and are fearful of how the proposed changes could affect them and their families. Nearly two thirds of those who recently asked about their view of the proposed changes said they felt they would result in more miscarriages of justice and wrongful convictions.

Middle-income families felt particularly at risk under the proposed cuts with 80 per cent stating they would be unable to pay for representation under the proposed new system.

Now, if you believe the Government spin, the legal system is up in arms because a load of fat cat lawyers are upset about having their fees cut.

In my world that is perjury. It simply is not true.

If you want to come into the legal profession to make money you do not do so by working on legal aid cases. Public funded work is the poorer end of our industry but it is the most important foundation stone of a fair legal system.

Just as we all have access to the best medical help through the NHS, the reason is so we can get access to the right lawyers should we ever make a mistake in our lives and need help. Would you accept being operated on by the cheapest doctor rather than the best expert available in his or her field? I think not.

On top of that, Mr Grayling 
has decided they will no longer be represented by local lawyers of their choice but by commercial law firms on a price tendering basis like Stobart Barristers, an off-shoot of the haulage firm. The Government is going to hand 
pick a number of companies in each region and “grant” them part of the budget earmarked for justice.

When a defendant comes on to the radar he or she will be passed to the company that has available budget from that grant, rather than a firm specialising in that area of crime.

Mr Grayling wants to save £220m and is squeezing the middle classes to pay for it by introducing a threshold that will hit almost everyone with two working partners in the home.

It means there will be one justice for the rich who can afford whoever they choose and another for the hard working families of Britain.