Change the drug laws to save money, say civil servants

The Lord Chancellor has been heavily criticised by lawyers for his relentless focus on cuts, notably on legal aid, at what they claim has come at the expense of 'access to justice'

Decriminalisation of hard drugs would clear court backlogs (Getty)

Civil servants will suggest the decriminalisation of the use of hard drugs as a way of tackling the Ministry of Justice’s budget woes when the new government takes power next month.

Officials are expecting the next Lord Chancellor to demand yet more spending cuts and revenue-raising measures to get one of the world’s most expensive legal systems under financial control.

They are preparing a list of options to give ministers after the election, which includes what a Whitehall source described as the “unpalatable” option of decriminalising drug use. This would save prosecution costs, free up cells and help to clear court backlogs. Officials accept that ministers “aren’t going to like” this option and will not adopt the plan, but the suggestion illustrates how difficult it will be to find more savings at the MoJ, which has a £9bn budget.

Other ideas include closing and selling underused courts, and raising civil court fees again, a move that has proved controversial in the past. Plans to hike the legal cost of divorce were dropped in the last parliament, though last month some civil fees increased by as much as 622 per cent in high-value claims.

The Lord Chancellor, Chris Grayling, has been heavily criticised by lawyers for his relentless focus on cuts, notably on legal aid, at what they claim has come at the expense of “access to justice”. Despite Mr Grayling’s efforts, Lord Justice Leveson described England and Wales’s justice system as “inefficient, time consuming and... very expensive” in a report in January.

A spokesman for the MoJ said: “Future departmental spending decisions are a matter for the new government.”

Mr Grayling has also led the Conservative push to replace the Human Rights Act with a British bill of rights, which could breach EU rules. A paper to be published by the Constitution Society this week argues that repealing the act would “cause a great deal of damage to the UK’s international reputation and standing”.

Dr Alison Young, the co-author of Common Sense or Confusion?, said: “It’s doubtful this could be done without there being a high political cost.”