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Legal System

Chapters

  1. Salaries and Taxation
  2. Pensions
  3. Benefits
  4. Health and Care
  5. Education
  6. Housing
  7. Employment
  8. Trades Unions and Labour Laws
  9. Trade and Industry
  10. Transport
  11. Energy
  12. Environment
  13. Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Rural Life
  14. Crime
  15. Legal System
  16. Immigration and Asylum
  17. Local Government
  18. Devolution and Regional Government
  19. Parliament and Democracy
  20. Media
  21. Freedom of Information and Privacy
  22. Northern Ireland
  23. European Union
  24. Foreign Policy
  25. Defence and Disarmament
  26. Conclusions
 Preamble

Chapters

  1. Salaries and Taxation
  2. Pensions
  3. Benefits
  4. Health and Care
  5. Education
  6. Housing
  7. Employment
  8. Trades Unions and Labour Laws
  9. Trade and Industry
  10. Transport
  11. Energy
  12. Environment
  13. Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Rural Life
  14. Crime
  15. Legal System
  16. Immigration and Asylum
  17. Local Government
  18. Devolution and Regional Government
  19. Parliament and Democracy
  20. Media
  21. Freedom of Information and Privacy
  22. Northern Ireland
  23. European Union
  24. Foreign Policy
  25. Defence and Disarmament
  26. Conclusions
Under the Tories, the major change to the legal system was that eligibility for Legal Aid fell from 79% to 48% of the population, so that only the poor or the very rich, who could afford the costs, were able to go to law. Attempts to restrict the right to trial by jury were opposed by Labour. Judges, etc. remained unrepresentative of the general population, and the legal system unaccountable to the House of Commons because it was led by the Lord Chancellor who sat in the Lords.
Labour policy was:
1 A Legal Aid system allowing everyone to afford representation  
2 To oppose the use of "No win, No fee" charging systems as a "gimmick"  
3 No further restrictions on the right to trial by jury  
4 To create a Department for Legal Administration under a minister in the Commons  
5 To have an independent judicial appointments commission to recommend all judges and QCs on objective and open criteria  
6 To review the funding of legal vocational training to help poorer people enter the legal profession  
7 To set up an independent review body to investigate suspected miscarriages of justice  
8 To incorporate the European Convention of Human Rights into British law  
In fact under New Labour:
1 Legal Aid was removed for a wide range of civil cases, and was so underfunded that few solicitors were prepared to take cases Policy shift to right of old Conservatives
2 "No win, No fee" became the norm for lawyers' charges and there was an increase in US-style "ambulance chasing" Policy shift to right of old Conservatives
3 The option of jury trial was removed e.g. for many serious crimes Policy shift to right of old Conservatives
4 A Ministry of Justice was set up under a minister in the Commons Pledge partially carried out
5 This was achieved except that the system for judges still allowed closed consultations Pledge carried out
6 (Funding?) but alternative routes into the law were considered Pledge partially carried out
7 This review body was set up Pledge carried out
8 This was done, then required an opt-out to allow the indefinite detention of terror suspects without charge or trial, and was threatened with further changes Pledge partially carried out
In addition:
Bullet point The principle of a presumption of innocence was threatened, e.g. telling jurors of past convictions [law now?], needing proof that assets are not from crime  
Bullet point US requests to extradite Britons now need offer no evidence  
Bullet point New Labour used evidence obtained by torture abroad against terror suspects in the UK  
Bullet point The new supreme court separated the judiciary from the legislature but, with prisons policy under the Ministry of Justice, judges feared interference with their decisions  

 

 Bullet point 

Independence of decisions was threatened by changes to the Parole Board and was a concern for legal aid too 

 

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