Friday 14 October 2016

Amnesty highlights "two-tier legal system"

No doubt this is the sort of "political" activity by charities which the Conservatives would like to stop. (There are sections of Labour, too, who were sensitive to criticism from independent bodies when they were in power.) Amnesty should stick to wringing its hands over political prisoners in far-off countries, they would say. However, this report does a great service in highlighting the way that access to justice for poorer people is increasingly restricted, creating hardship for the affected people at least as great as that of the benefit cuts. All parties have a share of the blame, but Liberal Democrats with fewer vested interests able to dictate policy are well-placed to promote more fairness in this area. A start has been made, though one wishes the party had gone further, and earlier.

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