At long last common sense prevails at the MOJ, and Michael Gove has graciously conceded defeat on this issue.
Firms are bound by a strict confidentiality agreement and so have been prevented from discussing the merits of those applications, the methods applied by the MOJ, the purported mismanagement of those applications, or treatment of whistleblowers by the MOJ.
There will be plenty of inaccurate and derogatory commentary within the right wing press about legal aid and supposedly ‘fat cat’ criminal defence lawyers, and nothing about the appalling waste of tax payers money spent by the MOJ concerning this issue and this government who were once determined to rush and push these contract tender applications through, regardless of the consequences for the criminal justice system, regarded by many as the finest in the world.
There are a great many journalists and politicians who have recently had to rely on the services of determined, fearless, independent legal aid defence lawyers, and they should remember that before criticising those same lawyers.
A fair and independent criminal justice system ensures a healthy democracy and it depends on defence lawyers who do not balk at a fight with the state in order to protect the individual.
– Siobhain Egan
