37 days to go - In which the legal aid vanishes into thin air!

31/03/15

Dear Claire,

For today's topic, let's look at the subject of last night's Panorama documentary on BBC1, the removal of legal aid for several areas of law.The programme is available in iPlayer if you didn't see it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=Panorama

 

Cuts to legal aid in England and Wales came into effect in 2013, removing funding from entire areas of civil law including family cases, advice on social welfare benefits, debt and housing problems.

The government says it will save £350m from a £2.1bn budget.

Last night's documentary was interesting to see how people with no legal experience struggled with the arcane and labyrinthine procedures needed to navigate the average court case. One lady in particular, trying to get custody over her own daughter after a bout of depression, was utterly unable to make any progress. Can you imagine what it must have been like for her? How intimidating and scary it must have been to come up against proper legal representation from the other side.

I know £350m is a lot of money, but the many billions avoided in corporation tax would surely be a better pot to try and save money from. Far more lucrative as well I should think.

In last night's programme, Sir Alan Moses, a former court of appeal judge said "I'm convinced that these cuts result in more serious miscarriages of justice" and "In measuring these cost savings, no account is given to the increase in court time that lack of legal representation leads to".

Judge Nicholas Crichton, who presided over a case in which a victim of abuse had to cross-examine her abuser in court said "It's shocking that someone should have to cross-examine their abuser".

Sadiq Kahn, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, said "We're horrified at the Government's cuts in legal aid, denying justice to the most vulnerable in society."

Well, that's all for today. Food for thought eh?

Kind regards

Polly

38 days to go - In which Leukaemia is not a reason to claim benefits

30/03/15

 

Dear Claire,

 

There are just 38 days to go until the election!

 

I thought it might be fun to send you an email on each of those 38 days, illustrating how the Tories have let the country down. Badly. My one regret is that there are only 38 days. I’m sure I could find several hundred examples that fall into this category.

 

Anyway, let’s kick the cycle off with a story about Tommi Miller, a 7 year-old boy with a particularly virulent type of Leukaemia which has spread to his spinal cord, brainstem and bone marrow.
 

 

Guess what?? They’ve been refused benefits!! They’ve been sanctioned. A consultant treating Tommi gave the family £600 in supermarket vouchers because he was so appalled at the way they were being let down by the system. The boy doesn’t even have a coat – they wrap him in blankets when they take him out somewhere. They rely on foodbanks to survive. Oh but then foodbanks exaggerate their usefulness according to Iain Duncan Smith, who refuses to debate the issue by scurrying out of the Commons when the topic arose.

 

Full story here:

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/boy-battling-leukaemia-fed-foodbanks-5068514  

 

I’m only speculating here, but I bet at least half these emails will refer to the catastrophic failure of Duncan Smith’s “reforms” on the welfare and benefits system. Clearly these people must be cheating the system.

 

What a shame a cabinet minister is virtually untouchable, and is free to wreak his incompetence across such a large demographic of our society. What a shame he treats the Parliamentary Standards Committee with such hubris and contempt, utterly failing to answer a single direct question, using smoke and mirrors to obfuscate any issue. Shame in him.

 

Anyway, that’s all for today.

 

Kind regards

 

Polly