LEGAL AID TO SERVICEMEN'S FAMILIES

Early day motion 578, tabled 13 December 2007 by David Davies (Conservative). Signed by 32 members.

That this House notes that legal aid has been made readily available to a vast number of people and groups in the United Kingdom; recalls that legal aid has been given to allow for, amongst other things, a schoolgirl's father to sue a headteacher over a school's uniform policy, for a murderer to repeatedly protest his right to have a baby by IVF, and for a terrorist associate to resist extradition and punishment; understands from the Legal Services Commission's website that the Commission helps over two million people a year; expresses surprise and dismay that the families of nine RAF servicemen who were shot down and killed in Iraq in 2005 will not qualify for automatic legal aid to help them work through the legal complexities of the case; further notes that the family of an Australian serviceman killed in the same attack has been granted legal aid by their home country; and therefore calls on the Legal Services Commission to reconsider this case as a matter of urgency and allow these families of British soldiers access to legal aid as soon as possible.

Signatures by party: Conservative 17, Liberal Democrat 7, Labour 5, DUP 2, Independent 1.