I have not the slightest illusion that the Government cares what I think about legal aid. They largely didn’t care what the profession had to say on the subject, judging by what has emerged from the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.
The reasons for pushing through the most draconian withdrawal of legal aid since its launch 60-odd years ago are two-fold: the state of the public finances and the high costs of our legal aid regime in comparison to other countries. The first is inarguable; the latter, far more open to debate given the difficulties of comparing our justice system to other jurisdictions and the propensity to imprison/relative criminality of the British, which underpins the size of criminal legal aid spending.
