Legal aid cuts have seen human rights become ‘unaffordable’ for many, says committee

Changes to legal aid have left many people unable to enforce their human rights, according to a group of MPs and peers.



In a damning report, the Joint Committee on Human Rights said cuts and reforms to the system had left them with “grave concerns for access to justice, the rule of law, and enforcement of human rights in the UK.”

They said “large areas” of Britain had become “legal aid deserts”, with fewer firms unable to carry out the work, while the service had become "simply unaffordable" for many people.

The committee said ministers must mount an “urgent review of the broader landscape of legal advice and support for people facing breaches to their human rights”.

Their report, which comes as the Government reviews the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act also demands a review into eligibility criteria and to consider fully aligning it with welfare benefits.

They add that the powers of the Equality and Human Rights Commission should be extended so that it can take human rights cases on the same basis as it supports equality cases.

Elsewhere they say ministers should avoid criticising the judiciary, while making sure they challenge misrepresentations of human rights in the media.

Committee chair Harriet Harman said that for rights to be effective "they have to be capable of being enforced".

“At the moment we are seeing the erosion of all of those enforcement mechanisms because of a lack of access to justice and lack of understanding of the fundamental importance of human rights and the rule of law. The Government must act urgently to address this," she said.

“Government, Parliament, the media and the legal profession all have a responsibility to consider the importance of the rule of law, and the role that rights which can be enforced through an independent court system, plays in that. Government must exercise self-restraint and refrain from criticising the judiciary and legal profession.”

David Isaac, Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: “We welcome the Committee’s recommendation that our powers to tackle breaches of human rights should be strengthened, and our resources increased, so we can better tackle breaches of human rights law to ensure that everyone’s human rights are respected and protected.”