I have been wondering about the assertion that we spend far more on legal aid than other countries, an assertion which underpins the Green Paper. I had toyed with the idea of making a stab at unpicking that assertion – but the UK Human Rights Blog has done it for me, and a fine job they have made of it too. What is important to note is that even if one accepts the proposition that we spend more on legal aid (which is far from clear), the study relied upon by the MoJ itself notes that we spend significantly less on justice overall than some of the countries under comparison. And this matters because if there is less legal aid there will be more pressure on the courts system to pick up the slack. Can HMCS cope? Probably not.
the gross amount we spend is meaningless of course without any data on what we actually do with the money.
in abstract, i am happy that we spend lots on legal aid.
and to put it in proportion the much-quoted £38 per year each figure is less than many people spend per month on their mobile phone. and way less than the cost of sky tv. but as murdoch is pushing the tories we won’t talk about that. still, we’ll all have to pay it when they dismantle the bbc.
the sky is falling…
actually, it does make me wonder how long this lot can hang on. i know you can’t get too excited by one opinion poll but (all together now) ‘things … can only get wo-orse’.
And I am given to understand that we’ve never had it so good!