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Socialist Lawyer issue 56

Danger: welfare state under attack

We seem to be facing the most ideological Conservative Government since Thatcher. It’s a Government of the rich for the rich. The rest of us are all about to suffer. The figures are stark. £4 billion cut from the welfare budget means subjecting people already classified as incapable of working to more demeaning and intrusive tests and forcing them back to work. New Labour failed in its goal to abolish child poverty by 2010; now the Coalition Government will increase child poverty. The harsh financial climate is accompanied by classic Big Brother scapegoating. As the public is exhorted to grass up benefit cheats, who account for less than one percent of the welfare budget, rich people’s tax evasion is unchecked. Cuts to HM Revenue and Customs jobs means more undetected tax evasion.

Public sector workers face a two year pay freeze, equivalent to a pay cut, and assaults on their pensions, working conditions and of course their jobs. Despite the Tories having said that the NHS would be ring-fenced, it is still required to make ‘efficiency savings’ of £20 billion. Front-line doctors and nurses will lose their jobs and there will be no new investment in the NHS. The NHS is already crippled by the exorbitant interest payments required under PFI schemes imposed on it by New Labour. Operations are to be reduced – so we will return to lengthy waiting-lists – and expensive treatment for those who are terminally ill or have serious conditions is to be cut.

Education Secretary Michael Gove is trying to reverse school building plans. Expect larger classes, more stressed teachers and fewer teaching materials. London Underground’s proposed savings abolish 800 jobs, with a knock-on effect for public safety.

£6 billion could be saved by scrapping the replacement of Trident but this right-wing Government, lobbied by the military and arms companies, won’t hear of it.

The Ministry of Justice has to find £2 billion – roughly the same amount as the whole of the legal aid budget. Kenneth Clarke wants to close courts, so more jobs will be lost. The right-wing press routinely rails against the length of time it takes for cases to come to Court – expect much longer delays with fewer Courts to hear the trials. He’s made it clear that legal aid will not be protected. The surprising silver lining might be an attempt to send fewer people to jail although whether Clarke would be able to convince his Cabinet colleagues of that liberal position remains to be seen.

As lawyers, we have a responsibility to defend public spending on the administration of justice (Courts) and legal aid. But we also live in society. We use the NHS, and the state education system. We’ve claimed benefits in our time, have friends who claim benefit and many of our clients are on benefit. We use public transport. We don’t want our air to become more polluted, our fuel and food prices to rise.

The Haldane Society together with Young Legal Aid Lawyers is working hard to put together a ‘Commission of Inquiry for the Case for Legal Aid’ early next year. We’ll present testimony from those who have used legal aid and those to whom it was denied, along with practitioners and campaigning organisations. We’re also working with the Alliance for Legal Aid and Unite the Union to ‘save legal aid now.’ We support the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) and the other public sector unions in their campaigns against job losses, pay cuts and assaults on terms and conditions in the public sector.

Under New Labour, shamefully the gap between rich and poor rose, not fell. It looks set to rise faster and faster under this Coalition Government. The government may get a shock. The rich can’t buy themselves out of society for ever. Even gated communities can’t escape air pollution. The rich may never be homeless, but they still have to step over people sleeping rough.

The Haldane Society stands shoulder to shoulder with the trade unions and campaigning organisations against these vicious public sector cuts. We’ll be on the demonstrations and on the picket lines. Defending the right to legal aid is part of that struggle.

Liz Davies, chair of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers lizdavies@riseup.net