Great news! 38 degree won the campaign to stop justice secretary Chris
Grayling from taking away people's right to choose a lawyer when on
legal aid! If Grayling’s plans had gone ahead, people would be represented based on price and not choice. [1]
One Wednesday he confirmed this change in parliament, saying he
expected to make changes that would allow a choice of lawyer in the
future. [2] This comes after months of campaigning from 38 Degrees,
Citizens Advice Bureau, Liberty, the Bar Council and more, to get the
justice department to drop these plans.
Since the campaign started in May, people power has worked hard to stop these cuts. A 38 Degrees petition of 50,000 signatures was handed in at a justice department event to raucous applause from the audience. [3] And over 10,000 38 Degrees members wrote in to the consultation, telling the justice department exactly why the proposals were so bad.
Yesterday was a good day for the UK’s legal system. But there is more we need to do.
There are still worries that new 'residents tests' plans will stop
homeless children and victims of human trafficking from receiving legal
aid. [4] The justice minister has shown he’s determined to cut our
legal system, we need to be ready to step up the pressure on future
proposed cuts.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We welcome all points of view but do not publish malicious comments. We would love to hear from you if you want to e-mail us with tips, information or just chat e-mail talkingtous@hotmail.co.uk