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Andy McDonald
Main Page: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)Department Debates - View all Andy McDonald's debates with the Ministry of Justice
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Andy McDonald Excerpts(11 years, 5 months ago)
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Sir Alan Beith
No, but we think that the Ministry of Justice should have some reasonable estimates of those costs. Such estimates are quite hard to put together, but we have talked to people in the courts—judges, counsel, solicitors and court staff—and they all point to incidents, each of which involves significant additional costs, which clearly have to be offset against the savings.
Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough) (Lab)
Does the right hon. Gentleman share my concern that we are hearing from people, such as the chairman of the Bar Council, about the significant costs and money wasted when trials collapse because of failures under the terms of the contract? Does he share my view that perhaps we would be better served if we considered saving those costs, rather than embarking on a revolution in legal aid provision and putting all that at risk again?