Authors:Legal Action Group
Created:2021-03-17
Last updated:2023-09-18
Ministry of Justice reshuffle brings new legal aid minister
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Marc Bloomfield
Description: Parliament (iStock_sedmak)
Lucy Frazer QC MP, formerly a justice minister, has been moved back to the post of solicitor general on a temporary basis. This has led to a reshuffle in posts at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), with Alex Chalk MP taking over the prisons brief from Frazer. Chalk is a former vice-chair of the All-Party Group on Legal Aid and a supporter of the reinstatement of legal aid for early advice. Lord Wolfson of Tredegar QC, a commercial law specialist, takes over responsibility for legal aid.
The changes at the MoJ were prompted by the start of Suella Braverman MP’s maternity leave. Her post of attorney general is being covered by Michael Ellis MP. The law was recently changed (via the Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Act 2021) to allow Braverman to take maternity leave; previously, cabinet-ranked ministers were expected to resign if they wanted time off after the birth of a child.