MP Rachel Reeves and Jamie Hanley join forces over legal aid bill
Leeds West MP, Rachel Reeves has joined forces with asbestos campaigner and leading trade union lawyer, Jamie Hanley, to urge the Government to think again about legislation which will rob dying asbestos victims of the justice they deserve.
The wide ranging Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill is presently passing through Parliament, and seeks to reduce the cost to Government of the justice system. One proposal contained in the Bill, to reduce the damages paid to injury victims by 25% to contribute to their legal costs, has been met with outrage by campaigners and politicians from all sides of the political divide.
Reeves’ Leeds West constituency includes Armley, where the JW Roberts asbestos factory contaminated almost 1,000 houses with asbestos dust. Highlighting the plight of asbestos victims in Leeds and across the UK, she said:
“I was delighted to see that a group of Peers from all Parties have raised this issue both in the House of Lords and by writing in the press to condemn the proposal that asbestos victims could have their compensation reduced to fund legal costs.”
She continued:
“I support the call for exempting claims for those suffering from occupational respiratory and asbestos related diseases from the new legislation. I have met with local constituents whose lives have been so tragically affected by exposure to asbestos, and planted a tree in their memory last year. I find it unbelievable that the Government would seek to take money away from these victims.”
Hanley, who is head of the trade union department at Morrish Solicitors, one of the oldest law firms in Leeds, said:
“This legislation currently passing through Parliament, takes a sledge hammer approach by seeking to reduce compensation to all victims, including those suffering from the always fatal mesothelioma, which is caused by exposure to asbestos. This is a travesty. If there is a problem with legal costs in the justice system it should not be solved by taking money from dying victims and their families.”
He continued:
“By any measure the Government is targeting this legislation wrongly – in my experience these tragic cases are ones where the costs of bringing the claim are entirely proportionate to the damages paid – in mesothelioma cases the average total legal costs are just 17% of damages paid. These are cases where the victim will die, usually a torrid and painful death, punished by a cancer which has been caused is so many cases by the victim having simply turned up to work to do their job. How can it possibly be right to legislate to take 25% of a damages payment away from these victims?”
Commenting upon the wider impact of the legislation, Hanley said:
“The Bill has even deeper ramifications. A legal system that can only be accessed by the rich cannot be called a justice system. In their blinkered drive towards a lower cost base the Government will strip away from ordinary working people the ability to access justice following life changing injury. The proposed cull of Legal Aid, whilst not as headline grabbing as cuts to other parts of our society, will quickly and cruelly remove the ability of the have-nots to seek justice. These are fundamental rights which the Government seeks to sweep away.”
“I question the Government’s rationale, and hope local people will join me in doing the same. The Government say the savings from these changes in their Bill will be significant, but even basic research reveals that this argument is flawed – it can be shown that the savings will be outweighed by direct and indirect costs (for example the loss of tax and the recovery of payments from public bodies) resulting in a net loss to the Exchequer of £70.2 million per year.”
Reeves and Hanley have written a joint letter to Kenneth Clarke, the Secretary of State for Justice, urging the Government to think again.
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