New government, old problems

As the new coalition Government starts to get its feet under the table, it is beginning to look at the some of the old problems facing the previous administration. Not least of these is the problem of high costs in the civil justice system. The Labour government had begun moves to attempt to deal with this issue, but never achieved any solid results. It is now up to the coalition Government. So what noises are coming out of the new Ministry of Justice? The first clues appeared in a recent House of Commons debate on the issue of a draft defamation bill. During the debate there were many calls, notably from those from the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee that had been addressing this issue, for the need to take a broader view of high costs rather than simply dealing with defamation.