Legal aid minister defends cuts, while Grayling meets practitioners for more talks

Legal Aid Minister Shailesh Vara has told the All Party Parliamentary Group on Legal and Constitutional Affairs that the planned £220 million legal aid cuts will not reduce the quality of lawyers operating in the field. For those who qualify to receive legal aid (a greatly reduced number if the cuts are implemented), a "world-class service" will still be available, claimed Vara.

Reported in the Law Gazette, the government has received around 2,000 responses to its second consultation on the cuts and Vara said that the government “has been listening and we will continue to do so. We want to ensure the long-term sustainability of the legal profession in the difficult environment that it faces”. In the first round of consultation, the Law Society’s submission said that the proposals were "unworkable and damaging".

In related news, Chris Grayling, the lord chancellor, has again met with criminal legal aid solicitors to hear their views on the impending cuts. Practitioners from a range of firm sizes, specialist practitioner groups and the regions were in attendance.

Again reported in the Law Gazette, the Law Society said: "The meeting was conducted in a polite manner despite views being expressed passionately by all present. It was valuable for Chris Grayling to hear directly the potential impact of his proposals and for him to explain the budgetary constraints facing his department. He promised to consider all the representations which were put to him."