On Monday 15 July 2019, YLAL and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Legal Aid launched our Take Your MP to Work Campaign.
We were so pleased to be joined by members of the press as well as Members of Parliament, all of whom were keen to hear about the importance of early legal advice, and our campaign to encourage MPs to see the legal aid frontline.
Jo Stevens, MP for Cardiff Central visited the Cardiff-based Speakeasy legal advice centre on 15 July 2019.
Jo, with YLAL's Co-Chair Ollie Persey, has previous written about why legal aid and early advice matters in Labour List.
Here she is with Warren and Cynthia from the centre:
On 15 July 2019 Richard Burgon MP, Shadow Justice Minister, visited Southwark Law Centre.
Richard said about his visit:
Tom Brake MP, local MP for Carshalton & Wallington visited South West London Law Centres on 5 July 2019.
Whilst there, he observed the free employment law advice clinic at the Law Centre. He also spoke to staff about legal advice deserts, the importance of early legal advice, and the changes to legal aid brought about by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.
YLAL was invited to respond to the Labour Party’s '2019 National Policy Forum Consultation'. The purpose of the consultation is to seek 'views on how best to rebuild the criminal justice system so that at every stage effective action is taken to prevent further offending and provide real opportunities for rehabilitation'.
Many of the consultation questions are out of scope of YLAL's institutional expertise. However, YLAL has produced a response addressing the most relevant questions to our members.
On 28 June 2019, Ruth Cadbury MP visited Ealing Law Centre. Ruth is Labour MP Brentford & Isleworth (including Hounslow Osterley & Chiswick).
The wonderful staff and volunteers at Ealing spoke to Ruth about a recent good outcome for one of Ruth’s disabled constituents following casework from Ealing Law Centre's immigration team, as well as telling her about issues from the #LegalAidFrontline.
Ruth said about her visit:
Andy Slaughter, Labour MP visited Hammersmith and Fulham Law Centre on 28 June 2019.
Andy's told us why he thinks early legal advice is so important:
Welcome to our update of the latest legal aid and access to justice news from April and May 2019.
Legal aid for Shamima Begum: On 16 April 2019, various newspapers reported that lawyers for Shamima Begum, the Bethnal Green schoolgirl who travelled to Syria to join ISIS at the age of 15, had been granted legal aid to challenge the Home Office’s decision to revoke her British citizenship.
On 24 June 2019, Paul Maynard visited Fylde Law Centre.
Paul is the @MoJGovUK #LegalAid Minister.
Paul wrote about his experience for the Ministry of Justice on Medium.
In this, Paul says:
