Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid

By Jonny Mulligan of the Sound off for Justice campaign

Sound off for Justice have been forced to write to the editor of the Daily Mail, Paul Dacre, asking him to retract statements made in an article titled “Now we have more lawyers than police thanks to legal aid”. The article inaccurately reports that the Law Society campaign Sound off for Justice is against the government cuts to taxpayer funded legal aid. This is simply not true and must be retracted.

Daily-Fail The fact is the Sound off for Justice campaign agrees that cuts have to be made. The question is how we do this. The Law Society itself in its alternative reforms package is suggesting cuts of £384 million which is greater than the government required savings of £350m pounds.

The Daily Mail claimed that an increase in legal aid funding has led to the an increase in the number of lawyers. While the published facts are that over the past ten years, the number of firms doing legal aid has fallen from over 5,000 to under 3,000.

Only 6 per cent of lawyers in the UK undertake work which is funded by legal aid. The debate around legal aid has being going on for a long time and it is an issue for all political parties and all sections of our society. The budget has been frozen in cash terms since 2004 and it has already fallen significantly in real terms.

According to official figures, the average pay of a young qualified legal aid solicitor is £25,000 – less than your quoted average starting salary for a trainee. The average legal aid solicitor working in the criminal courts earns less than a sewage worker. Whatever is driving the numbers, it certainly is not legal aid.

Sound off for justice agree with the government’s own impact assessment which admits the proposed cuts will cause serious detriment to vulnerable people, meaning they will no longer be able to bring meritorious cases to court.

• The full response to the Daily Mail is published on our website and can be accessed here.

http://twitter.com/brokenofbritain/status/54965094051876865 Broken OfBritain

RT @leftfootfwd: Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid: http://bit.ly/iauylj writes @BrittanyVGreer
http://twitter.com/timtim1981/status/54965719502295040 Tim Easton

RT @leftfootfwd: Daily Mail is confused & misleading on legal aid http://bit.ly/iauylj writes @BrittanyVGreer another Daily scare Mail story
http://twitter.com/endlesssandgirl/status/54966883224522752 Mandi.

Damn right! RT @leftfootfwd: Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid: http://bit.ly/iauylj writes @BrittanyVGreer
http://twitter.com/press_not_sorry/status/54967135386083328 Press Not Sorry

RT @leftfootfwd: Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid: http://bit.ly/iauylj writes @BrittanyVGreer
http://twitter.com/ambir/status/54969321058877440 ambir

Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid http://bit.ly/h326Ru
http://twitter.com/uponnothing/status/54970076759195648 Kevin Arscott

RT @leftfootfwd: Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid: http://bit.ly/iauylj writes @BrittanyVGreer
http://twitter.com/ericthefishking/status/54972171512070144 Eric The Fish

RT @leftfootfwd: Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid: http://bit.ly/iauylj writes @BrittanyVGreer
http://twitter.com/ruthie1301/status/54978083895255040 ruth bennett

RT @leftfootfwd: Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid: http://bit.ly/iauylj by @SoundOffJustice
13eastie

Presumably the legal profession, having no vested interest, is indifferent to policy on legal aid?

Its charity extends also to the majority of non-litigating and un-accused tax-payers?

And there’s nothing at all odd about the fact that the UK’s legal aid bill grew to become ten times the size of Frances per capita while Downing Street’s husband and wife team was backed up by a Lord Chancellor, all of whom once worked at the bar from the same chambers? (And one of whom set up a dedicated human rights set directly before her husband’s government introduced the Human Rights Act)?
http://twitter.com/nulabournemesis/status/55010615080652800 Νέα Νέμεσις Εργασίας

RT @leftfootfwd: "We should have a proper National legal Service in just the same way as the NHS." http://bit.ly/fL1zOk
http://twitter.com/nulabournemesis/status/55010835482943488 Νέα Νέμεσις Εργασίας

@OldHoborn RT @leftfootfwd: "We should have a proper National legal Service in just the same way as the NHS." http://bit.ly/fL1zOk
http://twitter.com/pro_law/status/55013026008547328 PRO Law

Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid: The article inaccurately reports that the Law Society campai… http://bit.ly/fZ9ta7
http://twitter.com/pro_legal/status/55014081949728769 PRO Legal

Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid: The article inaccurately reports that the Law Society campai… http://bit.ly/fgdCqX
Steve Kelly

We should have a proper National legal Service in just the same way as the NHS.
Mr. Sensible

Well that’s an idea, Steve.

On this, I think it is completely wrong for people with a case to be denied access to justice.
http://twitter.com/soundoffjustice/status/55177802927964160 SoundOff for Justice

RT @leftfootfwd: Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid: http://bit.ly/iauylj by @SoundOffJustice
http://twitter.com/govmanslaughter/status/55178032180236288 GOVManslaughter

RT @leftfootfwd: Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid: http://bit.ly/iauylj by @SoundOffJustice
http://twitter.com/natswheeler/status/55179575243710464 Natalie Wheeler

RT @leftfootfwd: Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid: http://bit.ly/iauylj by @SoundOffJustice
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RT @leftfootfwd: Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid: http://bit.ly/iauylj by @SoundOffJustice
http://twitter.com/amandafclark/status/55185799934771200 Amanda

RT @leftfootfwd: Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid: http://bit.ly/iauylj by @SoundOffJustice
http://twitter.com/andrewsoar/status/55186635997970432 Andrew Soar

Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid | Left Foot Forward http://bit.ly/jonnyattacksdailymail
http://twitter.com/alicemorrissey/status/55187957279236096 Alice Morrissey

RT @leftfootfwd: Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid: http://bit.ly/iauylj by @SoundOffJustice
http://twitter.com/thedharmablues/status/55191155687698433 Ryan Bestford

Left Foot Forward: #DailyFail is confused and misleading on #legalaid – http://bit.ly/gfzkD4
http://twitter.com/ajlaw13/status/55191520592150528 Andrew Law

RT @thedharmablues: Left Foot Forward: #DailyFail is confused and misleading on #legalaid – http://bit.ly/gfzkD4
http://twitter.com/detainedlives/status/55196518902272000 Detained Lives

RT @leftfootfwd: Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid: http://bit.ly/iauylj by @SoundOffJustice
http://twitter.com/higginsmiller/status/55199977500196864 Higgins Miller

RT @leftfootfwd: Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid: http://bit.ly/iauylj by @SoundOffJustice
http://www.ikners.com/?p=6718 When do you get to enough. Ask a lawyer | ikners.com

[...] Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid (leftfootforward.org) [...]
http://twitter.com/danjdsmith/status/55217812049891328 dan smith

RT @leftfootfwd: Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid: http://bit.ly/iauylj by @SoundOffJustice
http://twitter.com/walkyouhome/status/55229192438165504 Lauren Smith

RT @leftfootfwd: Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid: http://bit.ly/iauylj by @SoundOffJustice
http://twitter.com/myinfamy/status/56002518332878849 Daniel Pitt

RT @leftfootfwd: Daily Mail is confused and misleading on legal aid: http://bit.ly/iauylj by @SoundOffJustice