Effective fair trial protections are a cornerstone of a just society which values dignity and fairness. When people face criminal prosecution they risk loss of reputation, livelihood and often liberty upon their conviction. With so much at stake, fair trial safeguards are non-negotiable. Without them innocent people are convicted, the Rule of Law suffers and public faith in our justice system breaks down.
The importance of these protections should be at the forefront of MPs’ minds today as they gather in Westminster Hall for the latest debate over the Government’s planned reforms to criminal legal aid. For these changes, as they stand, would seriously undermine fair trial safeguards and badly compromise the integrity of our criminal justice system.
The suggested move from a system of set fees to one of large-scale competitive tendering for criminal legal aid contracts would result in poorer quality legal services. Already over-stretched professionals, faced with lower fixed fees, will either be priced out of the market or placed under impossible pressure to achieve more for less.
Speaking before the Justice Select Committee earlier this year, the Lord Chancellor revealed that the Ministry of Justice had changed its policy position, and would now include some element of client choice in its plans. But it’s unclear how the Government’s proposed system would lend itself to meaningful client choice.
Furthermore, proposals to harmonise the fees paid for guilty pleas, cracked trials and contested trials into one single basic fee would create a startling conflict of interest between lawyer and client. Together with plans to reduce daily attendance fees, and slash the rates payable in high-cost criminal cases, this would create a financial landscape where advocates are actively discouraged from taking on complex cases. They’d be incentivised to seek the quickest resolution – even where justice might be better served via a full trial.
The right of criminal defendants to the highest standards of judicial due process enjoys a proud place in our finest traditions of British justice. We must not forego such fundamental principles in the pursuit of short-sighted and poorly evidenced financial goals.
