Post by nickd on May 19, 2012 21:54:37 GMT 1
Lord Bach - A LASPO LEGEND
A well deserved 'Peer of the Year' - please vote
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Lord Bach
Lord Bach steered the opposition in the House of Lords against the Legal Aid, Sentencing & Punishment of Offender's bill (LASPO). It was an opposition which was at all times well argued, informed and conducted with the utmost dignity. Lord Bach, along with fellow peers from all sides of the House debated the bill constructively and secured no less than 14 amendments, all voted for after well reasoned and passionate debate. Details of 11 of the amendments can be found here..
mylegal.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=frontline&action=display&thread=626
Although the House of Commons went on to overturn the majority of these amendments on the grounds of 'financial privilege', this in no way detracted from how well put they were in the House of Lords', it just goes to highlight how the opposition was always up against a government which showed no inclination to stop and listen - LASPO showed us all how government is rather shallow in its claim to be a 'listening government'. Despite the whipped opposition Lord Bach found himself up against, he kept an eloquent and even tone throughout. He is to be commended for his sterling commitment to fight tooth and nail for the retention of legal aid in essential areas of social welfare law. Lord Bach fought a long hard battle on behalf of advice centres, law centres & Citizens Advice Bureaux, Young Legal Aid Lawyers and our respective clients; he freely engaged with the Justice for All and Sound off for Justice campaigns and showed himself to be forward thinking in enthusiastically tweeting with on line campaigners under the guise of #Fightbach on Twitter.
Lord Bach accepted that the previous Labour government had started cutting back on legal aid, but said it was "absolutely outrageous" for those most affected by social welfare cuts to lose access to justice. He later went on to call LASPO a 'wicked bill', a sentiment with which few of us would disagree. To me one of the most poignant moments came when he confronted Lord McNally in the closing stages of a House of Lords' debate over the real motive in denying thousands of individuals the right to legal aid when fighting their cases in benefit tribunals. He looked McNally in the eye and said accusingly 'that's deliberate isn't it?' McNally's muted response gave the game away.
Lord Bach has openly engaged with Ilegal and Mylegal via regular 'tweets' showing himself to be someone who cared enough to listen to those on the coal face of legal aid. I first saw evidence of his passion for our cause at an all party meeting in the House of Commons on the 16th March 2011, quickly followed by another meeting the day after at a 'question time' event held at the offices of international law firm Allen & Overy. During a briefing meeting earlier this year at the House of Lords, he showed how much he really wanted to listen to those who will be hardest hit by these reforms - our clients. Most recently in a campaign reception a fortnight ago Lord Bach made a particular point of thanking everyone who had fought so hard against all that is wrong with this far from pristine bill. It was particularly nice to hear both Ilegal and Mylegal receive a thank you for doing our bit to spread the word over the disastrous impact the passing of LASPO will have upon thousands of disadvantaged individuals.
In the course of putting together articles for Mylegal, I invariably find myself searching for suitable images from the internet. Whenever you tap in the words 'legal aid' 'justice' or 'social welfare', you will see Lord Bach over and over again; it is quite staggering to see how one man can have travelled around the country so much to see advice various agencies; it shows how much he's been completely dedicated to finding out precisely it is what we do.
Lord Bach with the campaign groups..
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On a final note Lord Bach, in announcing his step down from his current position, encouraged us all to adopt 'guerilla' tactics in fighting for better regulatory reform of LASPO, we owe it to social justice to do just that. He will be a very hard act to follow but I am reassured by his pledge to continue to voice his concerns from the back benches; I feel very assured he will.
Please show your appreciation for someone who has done so much to promote access to justice for those suffering social welfare injustice by voting Lord Bach 'Peer of the year'...
Please register your vote here
www.dodsevents.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=148&Itemid=132
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