Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has announced that millionaire criminal suspects will no longer receive legal aid, thereby saving the taxpayer tens of millions of pounds.
Under amendments to the Crime and Courts Bill, which were laid before Parliament yesterday (March 11th), the system of legal aid, which is means tested, will be changed so that all assets, including those that have been frozen as part of a criminal investigation, will be taken into account when carrying out the tests.
Until now, very rich criminal suspects have been able to get legal aid, as their assets, which in many cases have included palatial homes, expensive cars, watches and jewellery and even yachts, have been frozen pending prosecution.
However, under the new rules, judges will allow money to be released from the frozen assets to pay for a defence team and will also control how much cash is allowed to be used, in a bid to prevent vast sums to be spent on the most expensive lawyers.
Yesterday’s announcement followed pressure for reforms in this area from all parts of the legal world, from the Criminal Bar Association to the Law Society and various prominent lawyers.
The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, recently described legal aid to the super rich as “completely daft” and called for a change in the law when he made his annual press conference.
While Chris Grayling said that wealthy defendants who can afford to contribute to their legal aid should be forced to do so like anyone else facing criminal proceedings.
He added that the principles of fairness and equality are fundamental to the justice system in the UK, so it is high time that the system was made fairer to the taxpayer.