28/12/2018
The Guardian newspaper has interviewed Nigel Evans, a gay Conservative MP who now says that he regrets cuts made to the Legal Aid Budget for ordinary people in the days of the Liberal Democrat-Conservative coalition government that was in government from 2010 to 2015. Mr Evans was falsely accused of raping and sexually assaulting a number of men, and had to defend his name in court. All charges and allegations against Mr Evans were dropped and his case was among those cited by some gay and political commentators who suggested that the post-Savile preoccupation with historical abuse had a homophobic undercurrent. Mr Evans spent around one hundred and forty thousand pounds on his defence according to the Guardian, meaning that his personal savings were wiped out. As a consequence of this experience, the Member of Parliament for Ribble Valley has now spoken out publicly about his regret over the curtailment of Legal Aid in the UK. Mr Evans came out in 2010 and has since been a passionate supporter of LGBTQ inclusion within the Conservative Party.
