The legal aid bill for England and Wales is the highest in the world and has to be cut, Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, has said.

He told a fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference that it could not be right that £34 was spent per head on legal aid in England and Wales compared with £10 in New Zealand, £7 in the Irish Republic, £4 in Germany, £3 in France and £1 in Sweden.

The “astonishing” rise in legal aid costs - from £138 million in 1980 to £2.2 billion two years ago - has spurred a rise in the numbers of lawyers and their incomes, he added.

The profession, he told the Society of Labour Lawyers, had to work with him to find out why England and Wales spends so much more than other nations.

In a clear signal that he would continue the cost-cutting policy of his predecessor, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, Mr Straw said that ways had to be found to reduce costs and improve processes so that efficiencies could be made.

“The message I bring out here is that the profession as a whole has got to work with me to find out why our spending is so much greater than other countries - and how we can reduce it.”

But he also pledged to protect the courts budget, as being urged by the judiciary, saying that he was determined to “protect the budget of the court service” and adding that he had “intention” of raiding it to pay for legal aid.

Mr Straw’s comments will dismay legal aid lawyers who have already been placed under a stringent new fixed fees regime.

They argue that the rise in the legal aid bill is down to the rise in the number of cases being pursued by the prosecuting authorities, coupled with their complexity and length.

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