Leading human rights and social care charities joined the masses demonstrating outside the Ministry of Justice yesterday in a day of protests against legal aid cuts that spanned the country.

At 4.30pm crowds of protestors converged to express their concerns for what James Welch, legal director for human rights charity Liberty is calling “the savage attacks on our proud tradition of open, equal justice”.

The event, and many others up and down the country, was held to coincide with the closure of the consultation on the government’s proposed reforms to legal aid. The reforms would see the number of criminal legal aid law firms cut from 1,600 to 400 and the removal of an individual’s right to choose their legal aid defence lawyer in criminal cases. It would also cut legal aid for people in prison and cut funding for judicial review challenges against public authorities.

Speakers at the event, which saw ‘hundreds’ gather, included representatives from Liberty, Reprieve, Freedom from Torture and Kids Company. Ilona Pinter, policy adviser for refugees and migrants at the Children’s Society (pictured) also spoke at the event, which was endorsed by Amnesty International.

A number of charities communications teams jumped into action yesterday, releasing their support for the action. Shelter released the results of a YouGov poll which showed that over 50 per cent of people feel that it should be possible to claim legal aid to pay for legal advice and representation if faced with eviction, which would not be the case under the legal aid amendments.

Charities offering legal advice to individuals, stand to lose their funding under the new proposals. Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy warned yesterday that:

“Further cuts to legal aid funding threaten the fundamental principle of the universal right to access justice.  The Government’s consultation is focused on criminal cases but if people simply can’t talk to a solicitor as more and more firms are forced to close, then the knock-on effects could be devastating for everyone in society, not just the individuals facing charges.

While the consultation has closed, an epetition against the legislation continues to gather support, raising 78,724 signatures so far. The petition says “The MoJ should not proceed with their plans to reduce access to justice by depriving citizens of legal aid or the right to representation by the Solicitor of their choice.” 

Responding to the epetition, which closes on 10 October, the MoJ says that:

“Under the proposals for reform of the criminal legal aid scheme that we are consulting on until 4 June, quality assured duty solicitors and lawyers would still be available – just as they are now. All providers would be required to satisfy specified quality standards when they submit their tenders and subsequently through contractual requirements. They would therefore all be capable and competent of delivering criminal legal aid services to any client.

“The consultation proposals aim to deliver a more credible and efficient system which will save £220m from the legal aid bill by 2018/19.”