A High Court hearing challenging the reforms to the legal aid service has opened with an attack on the Lord Chancellor, including accusations that he had been ‘personally involved’ in suppressing evidence against the cuts.
In an extraordinary turn of events Jason Coppel QC, representative for the claimants, told the High Court that the challenge was not merely against the office of the Lord Chancellor, but also the present incumbent, MP Chris Grayling.
Mr Coppel said that it was ‘particularly striking’ that Mr Grayling had become ‘personally involved’ in the process and had created much of the ‘unfairness’ himself.
He spoke during a judicial review convened by the Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association and the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association, in order to challenge the reforms to legal aid.
This includes the proposed cutting of the 8.75% fee and the creation of a two-tier system, one for own client work and another for duty work, limited to a number of firms.
It is feared that the changes will result in some firms being forced to close up and reduce vulnerable people’s access to justice.
During the hearing Mr Coppel described the Ministry of Justice’s consultation on the reforms as a ‘caricature of fairness’, and an ‘exercise in suppressing information’.
He even accused the Lord Chancellor of employing a strategy of ‘divide and rule’ and ‘bluff and bullying’.
Mr Grayling was also accused of failing to disclose two reports on the financial state of criminal firms and the impact of the reforms before the end of the consultation, which the claimants claim deprived consultation participants of the opportunity to make ‘pertinent comments’.