Government reforms 'a blot on the rule of law'

Lord Neuberger warns of inefficiencies, delays and costs if legal aid is cut further

Ongoing attempts by the government to cut legal aid further and reduce the availability of judicial review could lead to "a rank denial of justice and a blot on the rule of law", Lord Neuberger has warned.

Delivering this year's Tom Sargant's lecture, the president of the Supreme Court said even lawyers took the rule of law for granted and reminded the audience that "there is a deep truth in the adages that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, and that all it takes for wrong to triumph is for good people to do nothing."

"If a person with a potential claim cannot get legal aid, there are two possible consequences. The first is that the claim is dropped: that is a rank denial of justice and a blot on the rule of law. The second is that the claim is pursued, in which case it will be pursued inefficiently, and will take up much more of the court staffs' time and of the judge's time in and out of court. So that it means greater costs for the court system, and delay for other litigants," he said in Justice in the Age of Austerity.

Of particular concern were the government's proposals to reduce cost and delay in judicial review proceedings.

While wanting to discourage weak applications was "understandable, even, laudable", he warned against diminishing the right to bring a judicial review action. The courts, he said, 'have no more important function than that of protecting citizens from the abuses and excesses of…central government, local government, or other public bodies…the more power that a government has, the more likely it is that there will be abuses and excesses which result in injustice to citizens'.

To guard against such injustice, access to justice in front of "impartial and experienced" judges was essential.

Justice in the UK was, he said, in "pretty good shape", though to maintain a society that is "civilized and successful" required that society guarded against any sense of complacency in the face of threats to access to justice.