David Cameron has abandoned completely justice secretary Ken Clarke's plan to increase sentence discounts for people who plead guilty at the earliest stage from 33 to 50 per cent, it has emerged.
The new sentencing guidelines are designed to ensure consistency and transparency, and give equal weight to both harm and culpability, argues Rosalind Campion as she rebuffs Jeannie Mackie's criticism
Lawyers behind the Commission of Inquiry into Legal Aid were well aware of the accusations of bias likely to be levied against them. As leftfield organisations opposing the legal aid budget cuts the Young Legal Aid Lawyers and the Haldane Society expected to be criticised for trying to pass off their inquiry as a piece of independent research.
