He reflected that while wealthy people from abroad can afford ‘to settle cases in London with the gold standard of British justice’, everyone else had to ‘put up with a creaking, outdated system to see justice done in their own lives’. On the impact of the modifications to legal aid introduced by LASPO, he said change had been ‘required to save money’.

LAG’s director, Steve Hynes (pictured), said that the speech ‘was focused on court users and not the hundreds of thousands who will never get to a court or tribunal hearing due to the LASPO cuts’. Hynes said Gove’s speech was ‘short on specific solutions’.

One of the few was the suggestion that lawyers should give more pro bono help. Hynes said: ‘Lawyers will legitimately ask why should they step in to provide services for free that were previously funded by the state.’