Grayling sides with solicitors and attacks barristers on criminal legal aid

Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, put the Law Society in the driving seat on the criminal legal aid cuts while repeatedly attacking barristers and the Bar at this morning's meeting of the justice select committee.

The move follows his decision, announced on Monday, not to go ahead with removing choice of solicitor.

Grayling said the society had accepted the need for "consolidation" in the sector, praised its "very interesting" alternative proposals and said "detailed talks" would follow before a new consultation was launched in September.

In contrast he said the Bar had decided to take a "different direction", and "rather disappointingly" failed to come up with the "same level" of response to his plans.

Grayling said he could have backed a 'one case, one fee' approach, including the advocacy work involved in a case.

"I didn't, because I didn't want to kill the Bar," he said. "I wish they would recognise that."

The justice secretary said the Law Society had agreed to develop quality standards which would cover the new providers of criminal legal aid, but the Bar had "said no".

He described the Bar's attitude to QASA as a "bit puzzling" and said: "This is nothing to do with the government or with me. It's about developing a quality standard which could prevent work being done by unqualified people who are no good."

Grayling argued that there were too many barristers providing criminal legal aid and "a lot are struggling to get enough work to do".

He went on: "One of the biggest challenges in this country is not a lack of lawyers. The Bar has to look at the numbers operating in the legal aid field at the moment."

Although there would be "fewer, stronger" law firms in the future, Grayling said this did not mean "giant organisations" and he was frustrated that the debate had focused on them.

He said he was not interested in "giant legal brands" but in "decent, medium-sized firms".

However, he said he spoken to the SRA, which "did not envisage a problem" in the time taken to approve ABS applications from new providers.

On the civil legal aid cuts outlined in the 'Transforming Legal Aid' consultation, the justice secretary made only one concession - exempting babies less than 12 months old from the new residence test.

He gave no ground on the cuts to prison law or changes to judicial review.

Grayling said if the state only paid for successful applications, it would "put a bit more onus on lawyers to make sure that the cases they get are strong enough".

He added that the new consultation would open in early September and run for four to six weeks.