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Unite criticises Con-Lib government for Legal Aid cuts

Ken Clarke's plans to cut legal aid funding will have a devastating impact on some of the most exploited people in our society Unite said today (18 August).

The Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition plan to make cuts to the £2bn legal aid budget year on year will mean that thousands of people will not be able to afford to protect themselves. Civil Legal Aid enables people to take cases against unscrupulous landlords, abusive partners, and illegal decisions taken against those fleeing oppression back in their native countries.

When Legal Aid is cut, expertise is lost and community law centres and CABs are threatened with closure.

This comes after this Government shutdown the Refugee and Migrant Justice (RMJ) agency, which had 10,000 cases on its books, including 900 children, when the Legal Services Commission, the Government funding quango for legal aid, had not paid the money it owed the organisation.  The government shut RMJ in just one week.

Legal Aid was established after the war as part of the welfare state to help ordinary people have the right to justice. The budget is already insufficient to meet the rising need for advice and acts of assistance, and its demands are expected to grow. The need for legal aid has increased since the start of the recession as families struggle to remain in their homes on limited incomes, or fall foul to the exploitation of others.

Rachael Maskell, Unite National Officer for the Not for Profit sector said: "These cuts mean the courts will become a place for the wealthy, while the vulnerable will have to suffer the abuses of others, or beg for mercy, with no recourse to the justice system.”

"Britain has a proud history of enabling all to seek justice against those that exploit them. Today's announcement reinforces the ConDem vision that the most marginalised are treated with contempt by this government who would rather see the marginalised beg for mercy than give them the dignity of proper recourse.”

"Unite members who work in CABs, law centres, interpreting services and the courts are aghast that this government would destroy our rich heritage of enabling justice which is a basic human right."