Legal aid means test 'not a stealth tax

The government denied today that plans to reintroduce means testing in an effort to trim the legal aid budget would amount to a stealth tax on the middle-classes.

Alarmed by huge rises in costs, ministers are considering bringing back the test, which would force some defendants in magistrates' courts to pay their own legal costs in criminal cases.

But constitutional affairs minister David Lammy said the plans were "absolutely not" a stealth tax on the middle-classes.

The aim of legal aid has always been to ensure that public money goes to those who really need it," he told BBC Radio 4's World At One.

"What I think middle-class people want is to know that if they fall on hard times they can rely on legal aid ... but they also want to ensure as taxpayers that we're spending that money efficiently.

"And those, particularly in our criminal courts, who can afford to pay, do pay where they are found guilty."

Mr Lammy denied the proposals would target motorists - the RAC has warned that the one in three motorists who are eventually found not guilty of offences might not be able to afford going to court.

But DCA officials believe most of 593,000 motorists who went through the courts in 2002 would be able to afford the average ?300-?500 cost of a magistrates' court defence.

"This is not about targeting motorists. - anyone found not guilty of a charge has their legal fees repaid anyway," Mr Lammy said.

"Legal aid in the magistrates courts is already restricted by the interests of justice tests, and this means that relatively minor offences such as speeding don't receive legal aid in the first place."

But the shadow attorney general, Dominic Grieve, told the programme he doubted the proposals would succeed in trimming the legal aid budget.

"I'm afraid that I don't actually think it's going to make very much difference because the truth is that the legal aid budget for criminal legal aid is soaring because of the number of people being imprisoned," he said.

"There's a clear correlation in my view between the two - as the numbers of people going to prison rises, so in fact they will need representation before they go to prison.

"I think that's the basic reason why the budget is out of control and I don't think that this particular difference is going to make much difference to that."

The proposal would hit many people charged with driving offences, as well as some charged with burglaries, thefts, robberies and criminal damage.

The measure will be included in the forthcoming draft criminal defence bill, which will then go out to consultation before being tabled in parliament.

Legal aid bills for magistrates' court cases are understood to have risen by about a third since the means-test was scrapped three years ago, making state assistance available to anyone charged with a crime.

Under the new proposals, aid in cases tried by magistrates could be restricted to those with a disposable income of less than ?10,000 after essential expenses such as rent or mortgage.