Legal aid cuts will undermine rule of law, says Neuberger

Lord Neuberger, president of the UK Supreme Court, has said in an interview with the BBC that legal aid cuts could make people feel they cannot access justice and then "take the law into their own hands".

The legal aid cuts - of £350 million per year until 2015 - will mean that people involved in a range of disputes (eg, social welfare debt, employment, family, clinical negligence and divorce) will no longer be eligible for legal aid. Neuberger commented: "My worry is the removal of legal aid for people to get advice about law and get representation in court will start to undermine the rule of law because people will feel like the government isn't giving them access to justice in all sorts of cases. And that will either lead to frustration and lack of confidence in the system, or it will lead to people taking the law into their own hands."

He went on to say that denying people legal aid would lead to an increasing number of litigants in person, slowing the process down and increasing the burden on judges and court staff.