Saturday 5th October UK Uncut day of action. See https://www.facebook.com/ukuncut for local actions
Sunday 27th October workshop on Legal Aid Cuts -How do we fight austerity justice? @DtRtP National Conference speakers including Matt Foot chair of Justice Alliance, Ugo Hayter involved in legal challenge to the bedroom tax plus Margaret Gordon Legal Aid Lawyer of the year, Gareth Peirce Civil Rights Lawyer amongst others. See: http://www.defendtherighttoprotest.org/dtrtp-national-conference-austerity-injustice-and-the-power-of-protest-27-october/ and http://www.defendtherighttoprotest.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/DtRtP_Conference_timetable.pdf
UK Uncut has called a day of action on 5th October in opposition to the government’s cuts to legal aid, which have already had a devastating effect with still more cuts to come.
They will also be hosting the workshop at our conference on the attack on legal aid with Matt Foot lawyer and Chair of the Justice Alliance . To find out more/to book:
What do the cuts mean?
Those who will be affected by the changes are the most vulnerable people in society, from migrants and victims of human trafficking to those who wish to challenge damaging austerity measures like hospital closures or ATOS testing. Prisoners will also no longer have the right to legal advice and representation in the vast majority of issues including abuse. With the government’s attack denying legal aid to detainees and foreign nationals, victims of sexual abuse at Yarl’s Wood immigration centre (run by Serco) for example would be denied access to legal support!
Lynn Jacobs, a UK uncut supporter said “I will be supporting this action because I have already seen the impact of legal aid changes. I fled an abusive relationship and was not sure what to do to protect myself. Because of the changes to legal aid I could not afford get a court order to protect myself from my ex-partner. I feel sad that the government does not want to help to protect me, and women like me, from violence. Why can’t the government make companies pay their fair share instead of punishing people like me?”
With the proposed reforms, cuts in funding threaten to send experienced, dedicated and quality firms to the wall. Tooks Chambers has recently announced that due to the legal aids cuts it is being forced to close after nearly 30 years of “a proud record of defending the rights of the under privileged and the oppressed” – including cases such as the Birmingham Six, the Stephen Lawrence inquest, as well as currently working on the Hillsborough inquests and the Mark Duggan inquest. For more information about the attacks and what you can do go to:
http://savejusticeuk.wordpress.com/
Leave a Reply