‘A plea to all the lawyers – those coming up and those already there. You have got to accept that bandying about access to justice, it’s really quite fraudulent. To govern is to choose. Is £1.6bn access to justice? Or is it £2.4bn? Lawyers forget where the money is coming from, it’s the taxpayer’s. So which department are you going to take the money from? … Seeing lawyers outside the Ministry of Justice looking like 1970s trade [unionists] does not help the status of the profession or find a solution.’ Lord Justice McNally (September 2016)

The current lack of access to justice in the UK is alarming. Polling of adults in England and Wales by…

The Supreme Court has delivered a unanimous ruling finding against the Government’s plans to introduce a discriminatory residence test. The controversial proposal sought to withhold legal aid from anyone that could not prove an established link to the UK, as discussed in our previous blog The Residence Test – 800 years of principle at stake.

In the recent budget, the Chancellor sought to make significant and life-altering cuts to disability benefits. The target of these cuts was personal independence payments for people who need aids to help them dress and use the toilet. Thankfully, after facing huge political pressure, the Chancellor backtracked.

Access to justice has suffered a further setback following the recent ruling by the Court of Appeal relating to the so-called Residence Test.