The Liberal Democrat conference has voted to oppose further cuts to legal aid and called for the proposed changes to be stayed.

In an emergency debate on the final day of their party conference members voted almost unanimously that no further cuts to the provision of legal aid be made without ensuring that the proposals are first properly trialled and assessed to show there would be ‘no adverse effect’ upon access to justice and the quality of services provided.

The conference voted that the proposed changes to criminal and civil legal be stayed pending thorough consultation and scrutiny.

A further motion insisted that new areas of Ministry of Justice expenditure should not be justified while legal aid is being cut so drastically.

The motions, which echoed the policy decision made at past party conferences, were proposed by Graham Colley, chairman of the Liberal Democrat Lawyers Association. They were supported by MP Julian Huppert and chair of the justice committee Sir Alan Beith.

Lord McNally (pictured), minister in charge of legal aid reforms in the Lords, opposed the motion, claiming that savings had to be found and that the government is consulting on the changes.

Head of legal aid at the Law Society Richard Miller welcomed the ‘expression of concern’ from the party and said the votes draw further attention to the ‘substantial challenges’ facing the criminal legal aid sector.

Eddie Tang, partner at London firm IBB said: ‘The government needs to fully scrutinise the current proposals to cut legal aid and the stance by the Liberal Democrats’ motion to stay the proposals pending thorough consultation on scrutiny is positive.’

He said the government must consider the effect of the ‘negative and unfair consequences’ of the reforms on people who are denied access to justice, which he said ‘goes against the grain of the essence and spirit of legal aid’.

Tang said the planned cuts are a ‘complete travesty of justice’ and for many vulnerable and poor people will mean that ‘justice cannot prevail’.