The government gave a clear indication this week that it will ignore calls from legal aid practitioners to ring-fence the civil public funding budget from the crime fund - while opposition parties have pledged to implement measures such as penalising the prosecution for wasting court time.

Speaking at a meeting hosted by the Access to Justice Alliance in London this week, legal aid minister Bridget Prentice said although the drain on civil legal aid needed to be recognised, it should not be isolated from the crime fund, arguing: 'Ring-fencing doesn't address the fact that the total cost of legal aid is increasing.' She said the regulatory impact test imposed on other government departments should ease some pressure, while an overall review of how funds are distributed should be examined by Lord Carter.


Conservative MP Oliver Heald, the shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, said he would be having words with new Tory leader David Cameron about bringing legal aid up the social exclusion agenda. 'One thing we are looking at is whether there should be a return on costs on the prosecution that could be put back into legal aid,' he said.


Liberal Democrat MP David Heath slated eligibility thresholds for legal aid that would not be applied in other sectors such as GP services.


But Legal Aid Practitioners Group chairman Roy Morgan warned that whatever policies parties came up with, it could be too little, too late. 'The damage has already been done,' he said.