The criminal bar could commence full-blown strike action next month after it emerged that the government is refusing to budge on legal aid funding.

The Criminal Bar Association is balloting members on whether to maintain the current action – alternating weeks of strike action combined with a refusal to accept new instructions and 'returned' cases – or escalate it.

After consulting with members over the last few weeks, the CBA said it had become clear that ‘a significant proportion of our members wish to be given an option to escalate our current action towards an uninterrupted strike in order to exert maximum leverage upon government at this critical time’.

The results of the latest ballot will be announced on 21 August. Should the majority of members vote to escalate action, an uninterruped strike will begin on 5 September.

‘We anticipate a new prime minister and cabinet will be in place by 5 September. Given the expectation that the ongoing strike action will inevitably lead to the progressive incapacitation of court business, there is no doubt that resolving this dispute will be the critical priority of any incoming justice secretary,’ the CBA said.

In a letter to CBA chiefs Jo Sidhu QC and Kirsty Brimelow QC, justice minister Sarah Dines said she and lord chancellor Dominic Raab were not prepared to negotiate the ‘settled terms’ for the first phase of their criminal legal aid reform programme.

Commenting on the latest development, Stephen Davies, a criminal defence solicitor at Tuckers, tweeted: 'My guess is a full-blown walkout is inevitable. The [CBA] committee deserve recognition. Thank them if you see 'em.'