Unite: Cuts will hit poorest
Sally Kosky, Unite national officer for the not-for-profit sector, accuses the government of silencing the voices of the weak and the desperate:
"We estimate that 650,000 of the poorest people in the country will be very hard hit by the swingeing cutbacks to the legal aid and advice budget of about £350 million a year – we call on the government to urgently rethink its proposals.
"The damage caused by this bill will be compounded by the economic hardship generated by the government's misguided financial policies.
"Charities will lose up to 75 per cent of all legal aid funding. The closing down of advice centres will further accelerate. Yet the savings to the Justice Ministry budget will be miniscule – legal aid costs just 0.3 per cent of GDP.
"Since November, ministers have systematically ignored 5,000 responses to their consultation on cutting legal aid's scope and availability – over 90 per cent of which were united in condemning them for denying access to those seeking help and representation on debt, education, employment, immigration, housing, social welfare and family cases.
"Because of the current austerity measures which will cause joblessness, repossession of homes and relationship breakdowns, everyone has an interest in a strong legal advice system. It could, unfortunately, be any of us that suddenly find ourselves in a moment of need. They are taking with one hand and using the other to silence the voices of the disenfranchised, the weak and the desperate.
"For those advice services that somehow manage to survive these brutal cuts, advisors and lawyers will be severely restricted because of cost constraints as to how much support they can offer."
