Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

At the risk of this turning into a mutual affection session, let me say that I understand the hon. Gentleman's point and agree with the foundation of his argument, which is that the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 was the most significant advance in criminal law in this country since the second world war and we must take into account the abuses that led to its introduction. On that basis, it is an important principle that there should be free and unmolested legal advice at the point of arrest for all people, no matter how much they are worth, so that no one need be worried about the quality of the advice they are getting. We could, however, debate whether it is appropriate to have retrospective charging for people of means who have subsequently been convicted.