Debates between Baroness Whitaker and Lord Hylton during the 2010-2015 Parliament

Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

Debate between Baroness Whitaker and Lord Hylton
Tuesday 20th December 2011

(12 years, 10 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Hylton Portrait Lord Hylton
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My Lords—

Baroness Whitaker Portrait Baroness Whitaker
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My Lords—

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Baroness Whitaker Portrait Baroness Whitaker
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My Lords—

Lord Hylton Portrait Lord Hylton
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My Lords—

Lord Hylton Portrait Lord Hylton
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My Lords, I rise with great caution as a lay man in this very legal debate. However, I read the article in today’s Guardian by the Lord Chancellor, in which he spoke of promoting non-adversarial solutions. I therefore invite the Deputy Leader of the House, when he replies, to tell us a little about how that will work out in practice and to what extent those kinds of solutions will compensate for the very large cut that is proposed to be made to the current legal aid budget.

Baroness Whitaker Portrait Baroness Whitaker
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My Lords, I will be brief. Very much following the speech of the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, I should like to add another slant to why the amendment should be supported. The trouble is that Clause 1, as it stands, does not confer access to justice. The wording does not make it clear that such a provision will meet individuals’ needs. It could be minimal, perfunctory and partial, and yet still comply.

What individuals need is the crucial element of what my noble friend Lady King of Bow called in her Second Reading speech the state’s compact with the citizen: that is, if the rule of law is unintelligible and unavailable to the citizen, their rights and responsibilities are withheld, so not only is the individual deprived of what they might be entitled to but democracy is significantly eroded. We should not allow the wording of Clause 1 to be unamended, and I hope that the Minister will recognise that.