Conservative leader David Cameron said "Granting legal aid to the MPs was a complete outrage". Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said "People will be dismayed that former MP s are going to get legal aid in their expenses cases". I could not agree more. Using tax payers money for people who are wealthy and given the outrage in the public on the expenses scandle could not be timed worse for Labour.
Apparently this can only be done at some courts like Southwark Crown Court because means testing is being phased in for all the Crown Court's in England and Wales. So People can pick and choose which court to use based on which one offer legal aid, how is this right? Why not introduce this too all courts and not phase it in. The "interests of justice" test began to be phased out in January and replaced by a means test for all Crown Court cases in England and Wales but Southwark Crown Court is not yet part of the new scheme. So it did not apply to the MPs simply because the case is at Southwark Crown Court.
If conviced (this could mean a 7 year prison sentence) the judge can ask for these fee to be paid back. However this does not happen often from what I understand. I hope if conviced the judge will ensure this is paid back to the public purse.
