Meeting of the Parliament 06 January 2026
Access to justice is a fundamental human right. It is not a luxury, and it must never be a privilege that is reserved for those with money, confidence or proximity to power. However, as we have heard, for far too many people across Scotland—especially in rural and island communities, including in much of the Highlands and Islands—access to civil legal assistance is becoming increasingly fragile. I welcome the committee’s work and report on the issue.
In my region, people are not choosing to self-represent; they are being forced to. Single migrant parents, disabled people and survivors of domestic abuse can spend months trying to find a legal aid solicitor, only to be told again and again that no one is available. The result is delay, distress and, in many cases, injustice.
It is not an abstract problem—over the past three years, there has been a sharp decline in legal aid providers in Scotland. The number of criminal and children’s legal aid solicitors has fallen by more than 12 per cent, and the number of civil legal aid firms has dropped by nearly 20 per cent. Small, rural and high street practices, which deliver around 90 per cent of legal aid, are leaving the system because the stagnant fees and rising costs make the work unsustainable.
Only around 5 per cent of legal aid funding goes to rural firms, despite rural Scotland being home to almost a third of the population. In towns such as Fort William, Portree, Wick, Kirkwall, Lerwick and Lochmaddy, court duty plans often rely on a single solicitor or none at all. That is not resilience; it is a system that is clearly on the brink.
The workforce is ageing. About 60 per cent of criminal legal aid solicitors are over the age of 55, and more than a third are expected to retire within the next decade. More than 40 per cent of solicitors say that they might stop doing legal aid work within the next two years. When they go, there is often no one to replace them.
The human consequences are stark. In Shetland, Women’s Aid reports that only one local civil legal aid solicitor is available for survivors of domestic abuse. That forces island residents to seek mainland representation, which increases costs, delays and trauma. In the Highlands, a survivor of domestic abuse contacted 116 firms before they finally resorted to crowdfunding for private legal support. From my casework, I know that the growing volume of issues relating to damp and mould in homes clearly shows that there is a gap in accessible legal advice long before cases reach crisis point.
Therefore, legal aid reform is not a technical exercise; it is about redressing power imbalances. Without access to legal support, people cannot challenge poor housing conditions, unlawful decisions, discrimination or environmental harm. Rights that cannot be enforced are rights only in name. That is why reform must sit in a much wider human rights agenda. Enshrining rights in law matters, but unless people can access legal help to uphold those rights, those rights remain meaningless in practice.
Justice should not depend on where someone lives. It was good to hear from the minister about how the Government intends to respond to the committee’s findings in practice and about the work that is currently being undertaken. However, I would appreciate hearing a commitment from the minister to act on the report’s recommendations in a way that reflects rural realities. That includes the need for flexible and fair fee structures, broader eligibility, reduced bureaucracy and targeted action to retain and attract legal aid solicitors in remote areas. Will the minister ensure that innovations such as remote hearings and community legal hubs are used to strengthen, not replace, the local legal aid provision that communities across the Highlands and Islands so urgently need?
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