header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us

Overdue review?

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
21 April 2016 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 7695 / Categories: Opinion
printer mail-detail
001_nlj_7695_robins

LASPO is in desperate need of a re-evaluation, says Jon Robins

This month marks the three-year anniversary of the implementation of the most swingeing cuts to the legal aid scheme since it was introduced in 1949. In the aftermath of the second world war, the Attlee government set out its vision for a system of state-funded access to justice that was not restricted to those people “normally classed as poor” but should also include those of “small or moderate means”.

Such a modestly-stated aspiration of the Attlee government seems the heights of heady idealism compared to our reduced commitment to access to justice in a time of austerity.

“We can all agree that nobody should be denied access to justice,” wrote Lord McNally in a letter to The Guardian earlier this month (“We need a cross-party consensus on legal aid”, 4 April 2016). The former minister, who piloted the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) through the Lords, was responding to a letter from lawyers and campaigners repeating calls for a promised

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
Read All
Public Accounts Committee warn of ‘extinction’ risk for legal aid
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
NLJ this week: The insider returns
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
NLJ this week: Drawing the line on contempt
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
NLJ this week: Stop and search by the numbers
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
NLJ this week: Looking back on the prorogation that never was
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll