The legal system of the United Kingdom has for years, been the envy of the world. The equality of law has been a benchmark for countries to aim towards that has entitled every man and woman in our borders to be bound by the same laws, equal representation under the law and the right to a fair trial. The clowns in Westminster have decided that this beacon of justice is not financially viable and in the alleged interest of the British taxpayer legislation will ensure that £350m will be cut from state sponsored legal aid.
We shouldn’t forget that it was Clement Atlee’s post-war government that introduced the Legal Aid and Advice Act 1949, the feeling at the time being that the working-class had after years of poverty and exploitation finally earned the right to equality under the law. Continue reading
By coincidence two quite different processes are dramatising simultaneously the market shocks now being applied relentlessly to the NHS. Sir Bruce Keogh, the NHS clinical director, is demanding that hospital closures must be accepted in order to concentrate scarce specialist skills ‘for the good of the patient’. The buzzword for this latest upheaval is “reconfiguration”, and of course it is said that cuts have nothing to do with it.
This afternoon, the House of Commons debates Britain’s nuclear deterrent: Jeremy Corbyn puts the case against the replacement of Trident in the context of austerity.
My own constituency, Oldham West, is one of the poorest in the country. How are they being affected by the cascade of cuts? Housing benefit cuts in April will particularly impact on pensioners, families on low incomes, disabled people (many already traumatised by Atos assessments of their alleged capability for work), the long-term sick , and the jobless. The so-called bedroom tax will hit those classified as ‘over-occupying’ their property. People with 1 bedroom more than they are supposed to need will have their housing benefit cut by 14%, and with 2 bedrooms more than they need a cut of 25%. This will affect about 2,000 households in Oldham. Moving to a smaller property will be difficult because of the housing shortage (there are 8,500 on the waiting list in Oldham) and because of the priority given to homeless people. 
