The decision of the UK administration to allegedly restrict the right of certain aliens to the country, to get legal aid in immigration cases, seems to have not gone down too well with the country’s legal establishment even as it has strongly condemned the administration over the issue.
Sometime earlier it had been declared by the concerned Justice Secretary of the nation that the government would prevent immigrants from benefiting from the state funded legal support until they have resided in Britain, in a lawful manner, for at least 1 year. The decision is likely to severely hit those who illegally overstay their permits, underground entrants, besides failed seekers of refuge.
Allegedly, London is committed to reducing billions of pounds from the administration spending, which, it claims, is presently on shaky grounds. It is reported that the administration is crippled with a huge budget deficit even as it is seeking to bring down the same.
Plans are also in the pipeline to remove eligibility for legal aid from most British nationals, and to modify the arrangement so that defendants in criminal cases are provided with a government-appointed lawyer instead of allowing them to pick their own agents as the case seems to be presently.
Reportedly, law organizations will offer tenders for contracts, to offer services for a particular geographical region, only to be afterwards assigned every visa case of the litigants born on certain specific dates, or with the last names starting with certain specific alphabet letters.
However, an involved body has torn apart the proposal to do away with legal assistance from immigrants even while it has said that the plan is against the basic code of equality before the law, and may leave aliens unable to bring or defend claims which are vital to their lives. It has issued a warning that in case the modifications are made, the same will severely hit the nation’s reputation and weaken its trustworthiness in the matter of its support to the rule of law elsewhere across the globe.
As if to allay such fears the country’s Ministry of Justice has declared that ample protections will be in place for the really deserving & weak individuals. While members of the defence forces will still be qualified to legal support so will be certain seekers of refuge.
The said ministry received good support on the issue when a concerned person observed that it is incorrect to say that those who set foot in the UK should at once become eligible for legal support at the taxpayers’ hard earned money.
