I note that the Lord Chancellor has once again complained about the amount of money spent on criminal legal aid.

Since the government has since 1997 passed large amounts of criminal legislation, which have led to concerns being raised by the Lord Chief Justice among others, I am surprised that they appear not to have realised that when you add more criminal offences to the statute book, it is extremely likely that more charges will be laid and thus more defendants will be in receipt of legal aid.


In addition, the desire to 'narrow the justice gap' frequently means that defendants who face more than one charge find that even though compromise proposals are put forward, the prosecution will not abandon charges even though no greater sentence will be received by the defendant in the event of conviction.


While I appreciate that the new case management protocol may assist in this area, it is my recent experience that more trials now take place because of 'no compromise' than should be the case. This of course serves only to increase police, prosecution, and defence costs and fills up court lists for no good reason.


William Fraser, Fraser Wise & Co, Grantham, Lincolnshire