An alliance of 10 organisations, including the Association of Lawyers for Children and single parent charity Gingerbread, has sent MPs a manifesto that calls for the government to rethink the "narrow definition" of domestic abuse that is currently set out in the bill, for fear that legal aid will only be available for certain types of abuse.
The manifesto also states that measures to restrict the reach of legal aid in private family law cases could subject vulnerable witnesses to cross-examination by alleged abusers in court.
Stephen Cobb QC, chairman of the Family Law Bar Association, said: "We have come together as a broad cross section of organisations deeply concerned by the consequences of the government’s proposals. The Prime Minister stated that he wanted a family test for all domestic policy. Clearly nobody has applied that test to this bill. The civil legal aid cuts will be bad for children, bad for women and bad for families."
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