The justice system cannot escape the ‘realities of the economic situation’, Lord McNally, minister of state at the Ministry of Justice, said in an interview with the Gazette this week.

The Liberal Democrat peer said he is relying on the ability of the legal profession to think of new business models and ways of delivering high-quality legal services to protect the fairness of the justice system. ‘I am not detecting a feeling among lawyers that I have met that legal aid just shouldn’t be looked at,’ he said.

The MoJ is looking to make savings of £325m as a contribution to the first wave of government cuts amounting to £6.2bn. More may follow after the Spending Review announcements on 20 October. McNally said: ‘There is no way that the [MoJ] and the justice system can escape the realities of the economic ­situation.’

At a private dinner in Liverpool attended by Law Society president Linda Lee and local lawyers this week, McNally was asked about legal aid funding.

A Law Society representative said: ‘The minister said that he knew budget cuts would mean that the department’s relationship with the profession would not remain an easy one.’

On Legal Services Act reforms, McNally told the Gazette that ‘nothing has crossed my radar that indicates there will be a delay’.

McNally also made a strong defence of the human rights act in a speech to the Liberal Democrat conference on Tuesday. He said: ‘The European Convention on Human Rights, coming up to its sixtieth anniversary, is not "someone else’s law". It was never imposed on Britain. Britain was the first country to ratify the convention.’

At a fringe meeting hosted by the Lib Dem Lawyers Association, Bar Council chair Nick Green QC called on the government to take a more considered approach to lawmaking.

He welcomed the coalition’s commitment to publish a Freedom Bill and its efforts to canvass public opinion on which laws should be repealed, but said it also needed to take a considered approach to making new laws and avoid knee-jerk legislation.