§ Mr. John Fraser (Norwood)I beg leave to present a petition on legal aid fees in criminal matters. I must declare an interest: I am a solicitor.
The background, which I shall describe briefly, is the erosion of coverage of legal aid, where legal advice and assistance was to be removed from asylum and immigration cases. Last year legal aid practitioners were offered an increase in their hourly rates of only 1 per cent., which, self-evidently, is much below the increase paid to anyone else. It is also against the background of a number of miscarriages of justice which have besmirched the British legal system.
The petition reads:
To the Honourable House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled.The humble Petition of the people of England and Wales sheweth that:We wish to register strong protest at the Government's proposal to introduce fixed fees for legal aid in criminal cases. We wish to register strong protest at the proposed increase in legal aid fees of only 3 per cent. from April 1992. These proposals may cause solicitors to withdraw from the legal aid scheme and from duty solicitor schemes at courts and police stations, thereby increasing the likelihood of more cases of miscarriage of justice and reducing the people's entitlement to access to justice and to legal advice and representation.Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your Honourable House delay the introduction of fixed fees until the Royal Commission on Justice has reported; seek to reinforce the legal aid scheme and ensure its proper funding and further ensure that all lawyers who undertake legal aid work receive fair remuneration for their services to ensure proper access to justice for all.The petition is supported by the signatures of about 32,000 people, mostly non-lawyers.
§ To lie upon the Table.