People will only be denied legal aid if they earn over £100,000, Chris Grayling has said, as he defended flagship Government reforms to the justice system.
Mr Grayling, the Justice Secretary, insisted that his changes to the legal aid
system will only hit the wealthiest following warnings from experts that
they will leave middle-class families with huge fees.
He was responding to claims made by Alistair MacDonald QC, Vice Chairman of
the Bar Council, who said that the reforms will create a two-tier justice
system where only the wealthiest can afford to have the defence of their
choice.
Mr McDonald warned that the legal aid reforms will hit thousands of "hard
working people" who in cases because they "defend their homes against a
burglar, clip a cyclist accidentally, they become involved in a dispute with
their neighbour or their sons or daughters get into trouble".
Critics have said that people earning more than £37,500 will be denied legal
aid under the new system, but sources in the Justice department pointed out
that this figure is after people have paid tax, national insurance, their
mortgage, council tax, childcare and paid for all of their living expenses.
“The changes to entitlement to legal aid are really designed only to affect
people earning £100,000-a-year or more,” Mr Grayling said
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