Response to Ministry of Justice Consultation Paper CP 14/2013 - Transforming Legal Aid: Delivering a More Credible and Efficient System

Abstract

This paper, subsequently published in the Hart Publishing Journal Judicial Review, was submitted on behalf of the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law in response to the Ministry of Justice's consultation in 2013 on reforms to the legal aid system. The paper argues that the proposed reforms would compromise the rule of law. In particular, it criticses a proposed "residence test", under which those lacking a strong connection with the UK would be denied legal aid; the suggestion that many prison matters should be excluded from the ambit of the legal aid scheme; the proposal that payment for work carried out on judicial review permission applications should be covered by legal aid only if permission is granted; and the proposal to introduce price competitive tendering in relation to criminal legal aid.

Keywords: legal aid, constitutional law, rule of law

JEL Classification: K00, K10, K19, K30, K39, K40, K41, K42, K49