A report published by a group of MP’s has exposed Chris Grayling to further criticism, revealing that his legal aid cuts have not saved the British tax payer any money.
It is the latest in a long line of embarrassing failings for the Justice Minister, after the justice committee, chaired by Alan Beith, laid into the LASPO reforms, pointing out that since their inception in April 2013 additional funds have been allocated following the development of a crisis.
Mr Beith said the reform had: “Limited access to justice for some of those who need legal aid the most and in some instances has failed to prevent cases becoming more serious and creating further claims on the legal aid budget.”
The former deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat’s continued: “Many of the problems which we have identified could have been avoided with better research, a better evidence base to work from, and better public information about reforms.”
Of course this is no surprise, as the Government has previously admitted that they implemented the reforms without doing the necessary research on what impact the reforms would have on the legal profession.
This has caused uproar previously as due to the extreme nature of the reforms, many personal injury solicitors have been forced to cut jobs, move to different areas of law and even shut their doors for business.
It would appear though, after the revelations by the Justice Committee, that there has been a lack of research on the impact of those the legal profession represents and this has led Chris ‘Failing’ Grayling with egg on his face.
Scott Rees and Co Partner, David Byrne, put the boot in on the Lord Chancellor over the reforms, saying: “The report just goes to show what a complete disaster LASPO has been.”
“The Justice Minister must surely face questions over his future as the whole purpose of LASPO was to reduce the costs to the taxpayer, not inflate them.”
“He has been at the forefront of imposing such destructive reforms on our profession, which metaphorically speaking has had a comparable impact as you would expect to get from crashing a wrecking ball through the side of your house and now he has to face the music.”
“Our legal aid system is globally recognised and envied from all corners of the globe and access to justice is the pinnacle of everything that is good about it, something that has been lost on this Government in place of the promise of savings.”
“To take that away from genuine victims who need financial support following an act of negligence is bad enough however when this ends up costing the taxpayers you are supposed to be saving money for, more money, it becomes laughable.”
“It is high time that access to justice stopped being Chris Grayling’s playing thing and was given back to genuine accident victims.”
All this came just a day after Grayling received an ear bashing at the hands of High Court Judge, Mr Justice Mostyn, who was accusing the Government of creating unjust decision in court and denounced the MoJ in the process.