PAYMENTS TO VICTIMS CUT IN BRITAIN

If the British Labour government were as "compassionate" as it says it is, it would be cutting down on bureaucratic salaries rather than cutting payments to some of the most victimized members of society

Compensation payments to people wrongly convicted of crimes are to be slashed by a total of 5 million pounds a year, Home Secretary Charles Clarke said. Individual awards will be capped at 500,000 pounds - the same as the maximum amount paid to victims of crime - compared with the previous highest payout of £2.1 million.

Mr Clarke announced a highly significant ministerial review of the legal test currently used by the Court of Appeal to quash criminal convictions. It will examine to what extent an error in the trial process necessarily leads to a miscarriage of justice, said a Home Office spokesman. Mr Clarke described the move as an "urgent review" which could lead to a change in the law.

A discretionary compensation scheme set up by former home secretary Douglas Hurd in 1985 will be scrapped immediately, Mr Clarke said. That scheme paid out 2 million pounds a year. A statutory scheme which currently pays out 6 million pounds a year will remain in force but a number of new limitations will be placed on claimants. Mr Clarke said he planned to bring in new laws so that compensation could be reduced to zero because of previous criminal convictions or other conduct by the applicant.

Scrapping the discretionary scheme means people who have been wrongly convicted will not be able to apply for compensation if their cases have been quashed while going through the normal appeal process. Instead they will have to sue for compensation through the civil courts.

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