Financing Justice

Yesterday lawyers who work in legally aided matters in England and Wales went on strike. of course they never called it a strike, but it looked,like one, smelt like one and behaved like one. They withdrew their labour because the money that they were paid to defend and prosecute those accused of crime has been spiraling downwards and the government threatens to continue this trend.

Apparently £2 billion a year is spent on Criminal Legal Aid, which the government thinks is far too much. It seems to the Government unjust that taxpayers should spend £2 billion ensuring (so far as possible) that justice is done. Other nations seem to do their legal aid for much less although I would not wish anyone to depend on public defender services in those places  because mostly the result of any criminal trial is a foregone conclusion.

£2 billion is a lot of money and the Government wants to spend less. I think that if a nation of sixty millions can fianance justice for £2 billion a year then that is a bargain. I suppose we should put it into context. Taxpayers already spend £4 billion financing the BBC which provides entertainment. Financing justice at half that price seems to me to be a bargain and that any further cuts would create a system that does not finance justice at all.