Do Politicians Really Know The Fundamentals Of The Law?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 at 2:00 pm

It appears that there is some doubt that Gordon Brown or David Cameron know the fundamental of law, as both have made controversial comments over the Legal Aid which has been granted to three Labour MPs to fund their charges of expenses fraud. Whilst I’m not entirely surprised over this – as labour has managed to trample over most of UK citizen’s civil liberties in their time and the Conservatives will always deflect any matters of policy by saying the opposite of what Labour have said – this does raise the question about the perception of people awaiting trail in the UK.

Gordon Brown said he “believed the MPs would have to pay back the Legal Aid money”, but there is doubt that his claim was legally credible. Brown also commented that “the law has changed, so I think the money will have to be paid back”.

The opposition leader David Cameron has said that the Legal Aid monies where a “complete outrage”, and promised to review the Legal Aid system if he won the General Election to make sure it couldn’t happen again.

Legal Aid has been available for over sixty years, beginning in 1949, to help people seek legal representation and legal advise who were unable to bare the legal fees themselves.

What neither seem to realise is that it will be the trial judge would be the one to make the decision as to whether the monies had to be repaid or not, as pointed out by the Legal Services Commission, (LSC), who also said that the politicians may not have to repay the full amounts.

A spokesperson for the LSC has said that “it makes no difference to the cost to the taxpayer that the MPs have hired top barristers to fight their case because lawyers who take on legal aid cases agree to work for fees far lower than the hourly rates they charge on a private basis”.

Both Brown and Cameron’s throwaway remarks may have overlooked the whole judicial system of ‘being innocent until proven guilty’ and as the trial has yet to take place, none of the politicians involved have actually been found guilty of fraudulent activities.

The matter of whether they have to pay back all, some, or none of the money is surely immaterial until judgement is passed?