According to the CBA, the criminal justice system has already shouldered severe cost cuts as part of the wide austerity drive undertaken by the previous administration. Targeted savings to the nation's annual legal aid bill have already been achieved four years ahead of government-set timelines, with the legal aid spend down to £1.5bn (including VAT) last year, a target set for 2018/19 and a fall from the £2.2bn spend in 2010. 

Resentment

None of the political parties, other than the Greens, had promised to reverse all the £600m of legal aid cuts inflicted by the coalition government. But Labour had pledged to halt the deeply unpopular tendering process for duty solicitors covering police stations and magistrates courts – as well as reviewing a scheduled 8.75 per cent cut in the fees they receive. Resentment among lawyers paid out of public funds is on the rise again. The CBA is this month sounding out its 4,000 members on “how far you will go” in opposing the new duty contracts.

Decline in quality of representation

The CBA fears the quality of legal representation is likely to decline if fees are cut too far, and miscarriages of justice will increase. So “days of action” and a policy of “no returns” (refusing to cover for other lawyers) are threatened. The Ministry of Justice is, however, likely to endure further austerity. Even Labour had pencilled in £70m of cuts, including scrapping high court judges’ lodgings. The CBA will be watching events carefully.