These perverse outcomes are completely contrary to the vision that lay behind the creation of the state legal aid system by the post-war Labour Government, and they are contrary to the vision and beliefs of this Welsh Labour Government. The vision was

'that whatever the difficulties may be in the way of poverty, no citizen should fail to get the legal aid or advice which is so necessary to establish his or her full rights.'

This was said to be

'an essential reform in a true democracy'.

Llywydd, I go further, to say that this is a basic human right that is now being denied.

Legal aid is more than just a process for the funding of lawyers in legal cases. When it was established in 1949, they were creating an NHS for the law, and it was recognised that access to justice, the right to advice, representation and support, is a fundamental human right. It is not just about the courts, it is about empowerment of people, it is about ensuring that all have genuine rights in society. Is it any wonder, then, that so many people disengage from civic society when they do not feel part of it, are not listened to and are powerless?

Members of this Senedd will be aware that I and the Minister for Social Justice have increasingly been issuing joint written statements around these justice issues, and this is because we recognise that the link between justice, access to justice and our core public services is a key to tackling poverty, social disadvantage and inequality. That is why the issue of devolution of justice is such an important issue for this Government, because it interlinks with so many of the devolved responsibilities and it is a necessary component of our strategy to tackle social injustice.

Sir Christopher Bellamy, in his recent independent review of criminal legal aid, found that that there had been 'years of neglect' of the legal aid system. He expresses serious concerns about the impact of funding cuts on the 'equality of arms' between prosecution and defence, which not only appears unfair but causes profound unfairness. Individuals facing criminal prosecution and imprisonment fear that the financial costs of defending themselves could bankrupt them even if they are successful, and this means that the only option they may rationally choose is to plead guilty to an offence they have not committed, so that their home and other assets are protected for their family’s benefit.

Most recently, this is demonstrated in what has been described as the greatest miscarriage of justice in modern times. Hundreds of sub-post office managers across England and Wales were wrongly convicted in the Post Office Horizon scandal. Many felt they had to choose to plead guilty for crimes they had not committed, solely because legal aid was insufficient for them to achieve justice against the financial might of private prosecutions brought by the Post Office. This is not just an issue in criminal justice. The 27-year fight for justice over Hillsborough is another example. Once again, there was an absence of legal aid to support families of the victims in securing justice, leading to calls for a Hillsborough law.

Those lawyers, paralegals and advisers, and those in the third sector, who work tirelessly on legal aid or for free are community heroes. They are not the so-called fat-cat lawyers the press is so fond of reporting about; they are at the unrecognised and undervalued end of one of the most important services in civil society—a service that many of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people in our communities need and depend upon, and it is a sector that is slowly dying. It is no wonder that the legally aided element of the legal profession is so demoralised. Offices have closed, as entrants to the profession are deterred by rates of pay sometimes of the order of 50 per cent lower than existed in the late 1990s, to such an extent that members of the bar are considering taking legal action and industrial action. Many of our rural and Valleys communities have now become court and legal advice deserts. For many, there is no longer any justice, only a legal and administrative process in which they become passive victims.

Sir Christopher Bellamy states that academics at Cardiff University have an ethical dilemma when advising students on a career in criminal legal aid:

'Either they encourage their students to enter a profession with few opportunities for social mobility and progression, or they advise against, in which case "without new blood" the profession is most certainly going to perish in 10-15 years' time if not less.'

Similar dilemmas appear in other areas of the law. The Welsh Government is doing all it can to make up for the failings of the current system and to support those most in need of social welfare advice. During this financial year, over £10 million of grant funding has been made available to single advice fund services in Wales. We fund services that reach deep within local communities, helping people resolve multiple, and often entrenched, social welfare problems, including representation before courts and tribunals. In the last financial year in Wales, single advice fund services helped 127,813 people. The Welsh Government is now funding the Cardiff drug and alcohol court pilots and many other initiatives. Yet a fundamental problem remains. We fully agree with Sir Christopher’s central recommendation that at least £135 million additional funding—at least—is needed each year just to support criminal legal aid. And we contend that civil legal aid is similarly inadequately funded.

There is much else in the Bellamy report that the Ministry of Justice should take forward. And yet the current justice Secretary seems more concerned with tearing up human rights protections for ordinary citizens than fixing the problems that his party in Government has helped to create. It is a disgrace that, in the coming human rights review, the Government has refused to give any consideration to introducing social and economic rights, and that part of the focus of the review is on so-called 'rights inflation', as we apparently have too many rights. This is an issue that the Minister for Social Justice and I plan to address in our response to the review.

It is easy, of course, to simply call for more expenditure. So, let me remind Members of the Thomas commission finding that, based on statistics provided by the Legal Aid Agency, spending per head on criminal legal aid is £11.50 in Wales compared to £15 in England. So, put simply, if it were devolved and we received our fair share of funding, we could fund legal aid better. We could create our own Welsh legal aid and advice service, one that is genuinely designed to serve the people of Wales and provide the access to justice we all believe in.

It is imperative the UK Government brings forward the radical reforms needed to ensure the equality of access to justice for our citizens, as well as constraining the potential abuses of state power. Viscount Simon said in 1948 that

'It is an incorrect slander to say there is one law for the rich and another for the poor', yet this is where we are and this is what we must change. Diolch, Llywydd.