At the end of last week, MPs debated the latest of the government's planned cuts to legal aid.

You can read my full contribution during the debate here.

In brief, I believe the proposals for secondary legislation put forward by the Justice department will deny access to civil legal aid to some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our communities.

If these plans are allowed to go through, the fundamental right to a fair trial will be fatally undermined.

The government wants to introduce price competition tendering (PCT) to the criminal legal aid market.

Crucially, experts in my constituency point out that if the changes go ahead, cost becomes the determining factor in our court system - not quality. 

The inevitable result will be an enormous loss of knowledge and expertise, much of which may never be recovered.

The government proposes that people should have no choice about who represents them and wants to create a single fixed fee leading to pressure to plead guilty.

There is a very real fear amongst experts in Brighton and Hove that vulnerable and 'high maintenance' defendants will be left unrepresented.

The government also wants to reduce access to justice for those seeking asylum - and even those who have just recently been granted asylum in the UK. 

There is a risk that the new 'residency test' will harm migrant children, victims of domestic violence, trafficking, forced marriage, or UK residents not present in the country when a crime was committed against them.

Other so-called 'reforms' will undermine the judicial review process by limiting access to legal aid.

This is particularly worrying since cases regarding the environment, social welfare, homelessness, library closures and schools, for example, are all currently done by way of judicial review.

If the planned changes go ahead, they will hinder public access to justice, the equality of citizen and state before the law, and our ability to hold government to account through the courts.

I hope Ministers will see sense and scrap this unjust assault on our criminal justice system.