Sep 26 - GSD: “Too Little Too Late On Legal Aid”
The Opposition says it notes the publication of the Legal Aid (Fees and Expenses) Rules 2014, giving effect to the changes the Government has yesterday announced in relation to the fees payable to local lawyers under the legal aid and assistance regime.
Whilst the Opposition says it recognises that the changes have been brought about following consultation with the industry, it expresses disappointment that the changes have taken as long as they have and, perhaps even more fundamentally, that no changes have been made that benefit the users that need it most - members of the community on modest incomes to whom legal assistance is not available, simply because the entitlement criteria have not been changed so that they remain stubbornly harsh.
The Government, according to the GSD, has so far failed to 'increase the limits on qualification,' as promised in their manifesto, “despite the fact that much of the groundwork for such changes had been carried out by the GSD administration prior to December 2011 and the fact that draft legislation was in the Minister's hands (legislation that itself had been the product of consultation with the profession) since he took office nearly three years ago.”
Shadow Minister for Justice, Selwyn Figueras, explained that “so far, all this Socialist Government has done is to change the rules in 2012 extending unlimited legal aid to four defendants in one case that has cost this community millions of taxpayers' pounds, and now, it is raising the amounts payable to local lawyers in criminal legal aid matters and equalising the amounts received by local vs. foreign counsel practicing in local cases."
The GSD says it laments that those in the community who most need the assistance the state can provide during difficult times have thus far found the Government wanting.
"Disillusionment and disappointment with the GSLP/Liberal Government is on everybody's lips, but we had hoped they might do a better, fairer job in this important policy area," concluded Mr Figueras.
