Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, made a surprise U-turn on Monday night over his controversial plan to deny defendants on legal aid the right to choose their solicitor. After the proposal ran into widespread opposition from the legal profession, he dropped this key plank changes designed to shave £220m a year from the legal aid budget. The announcement came as he prepared for a grilling on the proposals by the Commons Justice Select Committee on Wednesday. It is believed Mr Grayling was influenced by strong criticism of his plan in a Commons debate last Thursday by Tory MPs, who argued that the...
↧