Guarded welcome for new justice minister

The legal profession appears to be celebrating Lord Falconer’s exit from the Ministry of Justice and the appointment of Jack Straw.
Straw has been leader of the House of Commons since May 2006. He was home secretary from 1997 to 2001 before becoming foreign secretary. Called to the Bar in 1972, he practised between 1972 and 1974 before becoming special adviser to Labour stalwart, Barbara Castle.

Legal Aid Practitioners Group director, Richard Miller, says Straw’s appointment is good news for the legal aid system.He says: “Jack Straw is an experienced and well-respected minister, and has a reputation as a thoughtful politician who is willing to listen to constructive criticism. His appointment emphasises the significant increase in the importance of the Ministry of Justice over the old Department for Constitutional Affairs.”
Straw, he says, will bring the department the gravitas it needs to tackle the challenges facing the legal and criminal justice systems.

“I am sure he will not stand for other departments creating new demands on his legal aid budget, which has been a constant problem for years.”
He adds: “Mr Straw will find no shortage of people who are keen to sit down and explain to him why the legal aid proposals he is inheriting need serious reconsideration. Otherwise the Ministry risks doing significant damage to the interests of the very people the Labour party was created to help.”

Paul Cavadino, chief executive of Nacro, the crime reduction charity, says: “The biggest challenge facing Jack Straw is the way the prison population crisis is wrecking many offenders’ prospects of rehabilitation. We now have 81,000 prisoners compared with 66,000 in May 2001 at the end of Jack Straw’s period as Home Secretary.

“We would urge the new Justice Minister to take determined measures to reduce the use of custody, so that increased resources can be put into improving the prison system rather than expanding it.”

As well as dealing with the extra workload his department took on after the Home Office split, Straw has been charged by Gordon Brown with spearheading a constitutional reform programme which is expected to include changes to the way the House of Lords is elected, an increase in the power of the House of Commons and could see Scottish MPs banned from voting on English issues.

Meanwhile, Baroness Scotland QC has been made attorney general, replacing Lord Goldsmith QC who quit the post once Gordon Brown became prime minister. Scotland, a Labour peer, was a founder member and former head of chambers at 1 Gray’s Inn Square.