'Vote of confidence' in magistrates welcomed

David Ford, national chair of the association, hailed Lammy’s ‘big vote of confidence in magistrates’. In order to ‘maximise the success of these changes’, Ford called for a ‘long-term’ plan to recruit and retain magistrates from all walks of life without them being ‘left out of pocket’ for volunteering, and investment in salaries for legal advisor roles, as ‘good legal advisers leave our courts for better-paid roles elsewhere in the public sector’.