Key opposition figures fail to respond to leading legal tweeter David Allen Green
Labour published its manifesto today. The bit about the legal system was almost entirely contained in three paragraphs on pages 66-68.
Journalist and lawyer David Allen Green, who tweets as Jack of Kent, summarised it in five tweets:
Pages 66-68 of http://t.co/caG92qiIF6 appear to be the Labour manifesto commitments on Justice and Law
— Jack of Kent (@JackofKent) April 13, 2015
Labour manifesto: express commitment to keeping Human Rights Act and a promise to widen acces to information under FoI Act
(p 67)
— Jack of Kent (@JackofKent) April 13, 2015
Labour manifesto:
"we will make sure that access to legal representation…remains available to those that need it"
(page 67)
— Jack of Kent (@JackofKent) April 13, 2015
Labour manifesto: "we will repair the damage done by this Government to the vital
safeguard offered by judicial review"
(page 68)
— Jack of Kent (@JackofKent) April 13, 2015
"we will widen access
to legal aid for victims of domestic violence" *only* mention of legal aid in Labour manifesto: http://t.co/caG92qiIF6
— Jack of Kent (@JackofKent) April 13, 2015
In conclusion, as Green noted, Labour is making a specific commitment regarding the Human Rights Act (HRA) and the Freedom of Information Act (FOI), a general commitment on judicial review, and making “positive noises” over access to justice while being very vague about legal aid.
Describing this as “odd”, Green then set about trying to get some answers to the legal aid question from the Labour justice bigwigs on Twitter — @ing into his tweets shadow solicitor general Karl Turner, shadow attorney general Willy Bach, shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan and shadow justice minister Andy Slaughter.
Query for @hammersmithandy @KarlTurnerMP @SadiqKhan @FightBach
Only one specific commitment on legal aid: domestic violence.
Why not others?
— Jack of Kent (@JackofKent) April 13, 2015
They ignored him. And they kept ignoring him …
Serious question for @hammersmithandy @KarlTurnerMP @SadiqKhan @FightBach – on legal aid, any more reason to vote Labour than another party?
— Jack of Kent (@JackofKent) April 13, 2015
At the time of publication of this story, none had responded. Read the Labour Manifesto here. The parts about the legal system are on pages 66-68 and page 53.