Civil Legal Aid (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019

Lord Beecham Excerpts

Tuesday 15th January 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Beecham (Lab)]

My Lords, in general, the view of the Law Society and the Bar Council is that these regulations do not raise many problems but some matters appear to require clarification. I am not sure whether I am about to overlap with what the noble Lord, Lord Thomas, has just raised. He will forgive me—although the Minister may not—if I am going over the same ground.

The Law Society has raised a question on the impact on the provision for legal aid under paragraph 44 of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to LASPO, which states:

“Civil legal services provided in relation to proceedings in circumstances in which the services are required to be provided under Council Directive 2003/8/EC of 27 January 2003 to improve access to justice in cross-border disputes by establishing minimum common rules relating to legal aid for such disputes”.


At present it is unclear, certainly to me, how many people are granted legal aid under this provision. I do not know whether the noble and learned Lord will have that information to hand—presumably not. Perhaps he can provide it later if it is not immediately available.

The other question is: do the Government know how many such provisions are reciprocated by the other side, so to speak? If there are significant numbers involved, the Government should surely ensure that there is funding in the event of a no-deal Brexit but if there is a Brexit deal, this provision should be included on a reciprocal basis, given the number of UK citizens residing in the EU who may well need such assistance. As I say, I do not know whether the noble and learned Lord will have that information but I certainly join the noble Lord who spoke previously in wishing for confirmation that legal aid will still be available for those who need it in these areas.

[Lord Keen of Elie]

My Lords, I am obliged for the contributions. The noble Lord, Lord Thomas, makes a good point about the advantages for all in securing mutual judicial recognition and enforcement. That is why, at an early stage, we sought to take forward those discussions with the profession on what was required. He is right to observe that the matter is not contained in the withdrawal agreement or the existing declaration but is an ambition. That may seem very little but, recognising that, we have taken forward what we can, which is to deal on a unilateral basis with the more recent Hague conventions that have been entered into by the EU on behalf of member states. We have engaged in discussion to become an individual state signatory to those conventions. My recollection is uncertain but I think the 2005 and 2007 conventions were involved. We have engaged with the council of the Lugano convention, which deals with the reciprocal position between EFTA states and the EU, to engage on that. Again, to become a party to Lugano, we require the consent of the EU because it is also party to it. Those steps are being taken forward and we are conscious of their importance. I underline that.

On legal aid provision, there is no question of a disqualification being applied on the basis of residence in the EU. Let me be clear about that. The point is that the scope of the EU legal aid directive is wider than the scope of the legal aid provision under LASPO. This instrument is to bring that into line with LASPO and have a situation whereby, in certain forms of civil and commercial dispute, the directive would require consideration of a legal aid application that would not otherwise fall under the LASPO provisions.