‘THIS is the biggest gathering that I can remember of solicitors, barristers, probation staff and the many people we represent,’ solicitor Paul Harris told a 3,000-strong rally opposite parliament yesterday.
The rally, before a march to the Ministry of Justice, took place during a half-day courts strike against cuts to legal aid.
Harris continued: ‘This is not about cuts, this is about the rights of ordinary people.’
He added: ‘This is about a reduction of state accountability.
‘It’s not about the fact that solicitors and barristers are having their fees reduced again, it is about the state substantially increasing its power over the individual whilst at the same time removing the safety net for the most vulnerable, the person inadvertantly in the wrong place at the wrong time.’
He warned that already: ‘Up and down the country people are trying to resolve serious family issues unrepresented in court…
‘Children in custody are not entitled to any legal representation when trying to obtain housing upon release…
‘The restrictions now being proposed for bringing judicial review will constrain the ability to challenge unlawful state action.’
He stressed: ‘The proposals for criminal legal aid are equally devastating.’
He said that an estimated 25 per cent cut in legal aid fees ‘will affect quality and a proper and fair justice system.’
He warned: ‘Justice on the cheap is not justice.’
He declared: ‘Mr Grayling’s Ministry of Justice is not fit for purpose. Successive scandals concerning G4S and Serco demonstrate quite clearly a high level of incompetence.’
He further warned: ‘We are moving towards a two-tier system, not own client and duty client, but those with money and those without.
‘You pay more, you get more justice.’
He concluded with a message to Grayling: ‘We will not stand by and watch you destroy the justice system.’
Chair of the Criminal Bar Association, Nigel Lithman, told the rally: ‘The criminal justice system has taken centuries to build – it’s taken this government a blink of an eye to destroy it.
‘People are being deprived of legal aid.
‘The government is introducing a system of a law for the rich and a law for the poor.’
He added: ‘Solicitors will be forced to close their doors and defendants will end up having to defend themselves. It’s a farce and a tragedy.’
He concluded: ‘Grayling is killing the criminal justice system and we won’t let him.’
One of the Birmingham Six, Paddy Hill, declared: ‘The Ministry of Justice should be called the ministry of injustice.
‘If I was in prison today I would rot in prison.
‘They don’t care about us, they care about themselves.
‘We need to all come out together and get rid of this lot. Until we do, nothing will change.
‘They are going to give more power to the prosecution and police. There will be more miscarriages of justice.’
Other speakers included National Association of Probation Officers general secretary Ian Lawrence, who announced another one-day strike against cuts and privatisation; Shami Chakrabati of Liberty, and Laura James of the Howard League.
