Once the speeches ended at yesterday’s “Grayling Day” demonstration, I caught up with one of the protesters who heckled Sadiq Khan MP: pupil barrister Claire Mawer. She explained to me why she was unhappy with him.

Labour, she said

laid the foundations for the destruction of the legal aid system

by the cuts they made. What made that even worse, for her, is that some of those responsible as Labour ministers – including Sadiq Khan – had themselves been legal aid lawyers. She told me

I find it insulting for Sadiq Khan to stand up and declare support for us, when he is probably the reason why we’re here in the first place.

Labour, she said

failed categorically to support us while they were in power.

In answer to a question I put, she said Labour hadn’t been clear enough about what legal aid cuts it will restore, if elected next year – and which it will accept. It hadn’t escaped her notice that Sadiq Khan has not always sounded opposed in principle to legal aid cuts.

I doubt Claire Mawer is alone in wanting more from Labour. Indeed, similar concerns have been raised by Paul Mendelle QC, who I interviewed last year.  I doubt either of them will get much more in terms of financial commitment, realistically. But if that’s so, then they’re at least entitled to clarity. As I wrote last summer,

I want honesty from Labour. It’s reasonable for them to oppose the detail of Chris Grayling’s proposals, their timing and their full scale, while accepting much of their broad thrust and principle, and not proposing to completely reverse them. …

What’s not reasonable is for Labour to give the impression of being fully in agreement with … “Save Justice” demonstrators – most of whom are not, I reckon, minded to accept any significant criminal legal aid cuts – if they know that, in power, they’d accept many of the cuts being made now, or would make broadly similar cuts of their own, on a broadly similar scale.

There’s bound to be increasing demand for Labour to spell out its own detailed plans for legal aid, as 2105 gets nearer.

2014-03-08T12:37:11+00:00