Attack on bar strike is a smokescreen for courts energy crisis, says Labour

Labour has accused the lord chancellor of using the criminal bar strike as a ‘smokescreen’ for the rising cost of powering and heating ‘crumbling’ courts.

The day after Dominic Raab MP wrote in the Daily Mail that the Criminal Bar Association was holding justice to ransom, shadow justice secretary Steve Reed MP accused Raab of holding victims and taxpayers to ransom.

In a press release, Labour cited the Ministry of Justice’s response in June to a written parliamentary question on heating and electricity costs for magistrates’ and Crown courts over the past five years. According to the figures, heating and electricity costs in both magistrates’ and Crown courts totalled £12.1m in 2017-18, steadily rising to £18.6m in 2021-22.

Reed said: ‘The Conservatives’ mismanagement of the energy crisis they have caused has left taxpayers footing larger and larger bills to heat and power energy-inefficient courts and left victims waiting for justice.

‘Victims will see through Dominic Raab’s pathetic attempts to use striking barristers as a smokescreen for the delays he and the Conservatives have caused in our criminal courts. He needs to stop holding victims and taxpayers to ransom, get round the table with barristers and solve this impasse.

‘Only Labour can deliver the long-term energy plan to cut bills, tackle the climate crisis, and deliver energy security for our country.’

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: ‘This is a baseless accusation given that we have reduced energy consumption across the court estate by 4% over this period – the rise in cost is simply down to the rise in energy prices globally that’s outside of our control.

‘We’re midway through investing over £175m into court maintenance to improve buildings and have invested an additional £40 million to make them more energy efficient.’

The department said energy consumption by HM Courts and Tribunals Service fell from around 262 million kWh in 2017/18 to around 250 million kWh in 2019/20 and 2020/21. It also said it will have spent over £175m on court maintenance and repairs in the two years up to April 2023.

Asked about Labour’s position on the criminal bar’s strike, the Labour Party directed the Gazette towards comments made by leader Sir Keir Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions, to journalists on Monday.

‘I quite understand, whether it’s barristers or others, why people and how people are struggling to make ends meet. What I want to see is the government recognise that, do something about it, resolve these issues, in whichever sector they are, but also have bigger-picture answers,’ Starmer said.