Legal aid bill defeated for a third time in the House of Lords

The government's legal aid bill has suffered a third defeat in the House of Lords. The news comes amid widespread concern that the bill, which proposes cuts of £350 million to the legal aid budget, will deny access to justice to Britain's poorest and most vulnerable citizens.

As reported in The Daily Telegraph, Justice Minister Ken Clarke was moved to respond to comments made by the Law Society's chief executive, Des Hudson, which suggested that the reforms would affect vulnerable women and children. Clarke claimed that the bill was about taking money from lawyers rather than denying court access to the public, and that the current legal aid budget, which is larger than in many other countries, needs to be trimmed to save taxpayers' money.

However, there is widespread opposition to the bill, which many commentators have interpreted as a measure to discourage large numbers of people from pursuing justice by making the financial risks of unsuccessful legal action too high. As a result, the bill is expected to have to undergo a series of amendments before it can be passed - a process that is already underway.

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Phillips of Sudbury said that most of his fellow party members in the House of Lords would vote against the bill or abstain: "We can reasonably expect major changes to the bill at the report stage. There is no doubt that if the government doesn't make major concessions, there will be amendments in the House of Lords and the government will lose. I promise you that."