Carter Review (Legal Aid)

12 Jul 2007

Ms Diane Abbott (Hackney, North and Stoke Newington) (Lab): I am not a lawyer, and neither am I here to represent the producer interest—to use a rather distasteful piece of jargon. I want to talk about the thousands of people whom I have dealt with in my 20 years of representing one of the poorest areas of the country, who would have faced disaster in their personal lives, with housing and access to their children, for example, without receiving quality legal advice that was paid for by legal aid. In the inner city, legal aid is not a luxury frill, but a pillar of the welfare state.

I shall speak specifically about the plight of black and minority ethnic solicitors, partly because it sheds a light on what is problematic about this whole reform. My hon. Friend the Member for City of York (Hugh Bayley) disputed whether the Carter reforms will have an unfair impact on black and minority ethnic solicitors. Of course, we do not really know, which is why some of us are calling for a pilot scheme, at least, or a proper race impact study. People who should know, however, such as the Law Society and different bodies that represent black and Asian solicitors and lawyers, say that black and ethnic minority solicitors will be decimated by the Carter proposals. That is also what the Committee’s report says. In their response to the report, the Government say:

 

    “The evidence in the regulatory impact assessments suggests that the impact of some of the civil, family and immigration fee schemes on BME managed providers is somewhat greater than that on white-managed firms.”

I must tell my hon. Friend that the people whom I know who were involved in fashioning the Carter reforms concede freely, in private, that of course they will have a disproportionate impact on black and minority ethnic firms. That is why I asked whether he, with his particular family background, thinks that is a price worth paying.

Some Members might ask whether it really matters that black and minority ethnic solicitors will be decimated if it means that taxpayers in York will pay less tax. I say that it does matter, for several reasons. Black and minority ethnic solicitors, especially those in London—I accept that the issue might look different in inner-city Brixton, Hackney and Islington than it does in York—add value to our legal and justice system. Many members of the ethnic community prefer, rightly or wrongly, to go to such solicitors. My hon. Friend will remember the Lawrence case; a brilliant minority ethnic solicitor took that case and drove it forward, when there was not necessarily any money in it, and made sure that Doreen Lawrence got justice for her dead son. She chose that brilliant solicitor, but she might no longer have that choice under the proposals that my hon. Friend supports.

Black and minority ethnic solicitors add value through their language skills, their understanding of the community and because some members of the community are more willing to go to them than others. In Asian communities in Blackburn, for example, many Muslim women are trying to pursue divorces, and they simply would not go to a white, male solicitor. They want to go to a solicitor with whom they feel comfortable. Black and minority ethnic solicitors bring added value, but if we remove the choice to go to them by decimating the profession, we will affect people’s access to justice. That is the basis of the court case that the Government currently face.

Black and minority ethnic solicitors are an important ingredient in bringing more diversity to the profession, as they are more likely to engage black and minority ethnic barristers. That is why the Society of Asian Lawyers is engaged in the legal action against the Government. If we decimate the base of such solicitors firms, we will indirectly affect the career chances of those barristers. How in the world are we to have a more diverse legal system and judiciary if we, as a Government, are taking a hammer and smashing the base of the profession for black and minority ethnic solicitors?

I remind hon. Members that the reason why many such solicitors set up their own firms was because, sadly, they faced institutional racism in the mainstream profession. So, what is the response of my Government in 2007? It is to turn around and say, “You tried, you struggled, you set up your high-street firm because of institutional racism, but we are going to break it up with ill-thought-out, untested, market-based proposals.”

In addition, many black and minority ethnic solicitors are small entrepreneurs on local high streets who help to build community cohesion. For all the reasons that I have given—added value, access to justice, the importance of diversity and community cohesion—it would be very dangerous to go through with the proposals without first introducing the pilots that my hon. Friends have suggested.

Community cohesion and access to justice are important for all our people—both the taxpayers of York and people on benefits in Hackney, Brixton and Islington—and are as important as the concerns of those taxpayers in York. Even at this late stage, the Government should be prepared not to give up on reforming the legal aid system. No one who has spoken is against reforming the system; the only query is about what to reform—but at least the proposals should be tested. They could then come back and reassure us that our worst fears are unfounded; otherwise, they will stand as having taken a hammer to one of the pillars of the Beveridge welfare settlement, which would be a very sad thing to do.



back ⇢