Chris Grayling wants justice based on wealth
HANDS up who wants justice based on wealth? Chris Grayling, Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Justice, does:
Chris Grayling said the Government should not always be paying for the most senior QCs to defend suspected criminals when cheaper junior lawyers could do the job just as well.
They are just as good – which is why they are cheaper?
Speaking on BBC Radio Four’s Today programme, he said the £1 billion legal aid bill spent on criminal cases is too high when budgets are being cut across the Government.
“If you look at the daily rate for a senior QC it can be between £1300 and £2,000. For somebody who’s going to become a QC in a month’s time, it’s just over half that amount,” he said.
“The question is can we really afford so often to use people who are paid such an additional higher rate compared with somebody’s who’s nearly as experienced, who’s a seriously competent barrister, who will become a QC one day if they choose to do so.
If the State has forced someone to court, the State must pay a lawyer to defend that person. Should the wages of the QC be linked to the severity of the case?
Posted: 22nd, January 2013 | In: Politicians Comment (1) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
January 22nd, 2013 at 10:07 am
Chris Grayling seems to be ‘winging’ his current job based on tabloid-friendly headlines (spouting policy ideas which are never likely to come to fruition like titan prisons).
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He seems to forget that for many celebrated QCs (such as Mansfield, Fitzgerald, Lord Carlisle), access to good representation is an absolute principle which they will not bend from. Grayling needs to read a child’s guide to the law (and in fact his wish to create a two tier system of criminal defence may be against the law in any case).
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My opinion – this will never happen (like monster size prisons).