Labour pledges to reverse legal aid cuts and re-open law centres

Labour has announced its spending plans for the justice sector at its annual conference, pledging £74 million to reverse cuts to legal aid and train more community lawyers.

Richard Burgon, the shadow justice secretary, promised to reverse all cuts to Early Legal Help made by successive coalition and Conservative governments. Legal Futures reports that since the implementation of the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, the number of Early Legal Help cases has fallen by fallen from almost 600,000 to 140,000.

Burgon also promised to bring in a “golden era of law centres” with a pledge of £20 million to re-open law centres that have been forced to close by cuts to legal aid. He also said that if Labour wins the next election, it will look at reinforcing the legal rights of the public with a “constitutional right to justice”.

The Conservative Party conference is taking place this week. On Sunday Robert Buckland, the lord chancellor, spoke at a fringe event organised by the Tory Reform Group on the government’s plans to reform prisons and focus on prisoner rehabilitation. Buckland also spoke about the importance of the rule of law, following accusations that his colleague, the Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, appeared to undermine the Supreme Court’s ruling that Boris Johnson’s prorogation of Parliament was unlawful by telling the House of Commons that it had “no moral right to sit”.

The Conservatives’ conference ends on 2 October – whether there will be an announcement on legal aid during the conference remains to be seen.