Underfunding criminal legal aid has put human rights at risk, warn MPs

The widespread unavailability of legal aid is putting people’s human rights at risk, MPs have warned in report published by the justice select committee.

The MPs’ report paints a bleak picture of defence practitioners under unsustainable pressure. The paper warns that as time wears on, the need to work long hours unpaid in order to properly analyse evidence will increasingly result in defendants not having their cases heard fairly.

The cross-party committee called for the government to commission an independent review into its findings, which should begin no later than March 2019 and conclude within a year. It also made a series of recommendations, including restoring legal aid payments for defence practitioners to review unused material above a certain threshold as part of a wider criminal legal aid review, and reviewing fees for criminal defence practitioners annually.

Conservative MP Bob Neill, committee chair, said: “In criminal cases, there is a common law right to legal advice, and a right to legal representation under the European Convention on Human Rights. There is compelling evidence of the fragility of the criminal bar and criminal defence solicitors' firms, which places these rights at risk – a risk which can no longer be ignored.”

The representative body for barristers, the Bar Council, responded to the report. Chair of the Bar, Andrew Walker QC, said: “This report shows clear and candid cross-party acceptance of what the legal profession has long been warning about: that years of savage cuts have led us to a crisis in criminal legal aid, which in turn threatens the future efficiency and effectiveness of our criminal justice system.

“This is casting a long shadow over the rule of law and eroding public confidence in the ability of our justice system to ensure that offences are prosecuted, and that the guilty are convicted and the innocent acquitted. The committee is right to add this to the growing list of threats to our international reputation being generated by the implications of Brexit.

“At a time when public servants across government are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel of austerity, there is no justification for excluding the dedicated barristers and solicitors whose daily struggles keep the criminal justice system going. We hope not only that this report signals a shift in political attitudes in parliament, but that it also leads to a decisive change in the attitude towards justice at the highest levels in government.”