Criminal bar chiefs have revealed that they last met the justice secretary 10 months ago as hundreds of barristers today embark on indefinite strike action over legal aid funding.
With former Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis rumoured to succeed Dominic Raab as justice secretary under a Liz Truss government, Criminal Bar Association chair Kirsty Brimelow QC said it was not too late for Raab to change his legacy.
Brimelow said: ‘Government policies on toughness on crime and supporting victims are meaningless without the required proper investment in criminal barristers who deliver the justice.
‘As criminal barristers start their historic, last resort, indefinite action, it is not too late for the secretary of state for justice and lord chancellor to change his legacy.
‘This is not a “world-class justice system” as set out as the vision of the Ministry of Justice. It is not even a functioning justice system. The door, however, remains open MoJ for ministers including the secretary of state for justice to come and meet the senior leadership of the CBA.’
The CBA revealed that its last direct meeting with the justice secretary was last November, before the publication of the Bellamy review, which recommended a minimum £135m a year ‘as the first step in nursing the of criminal legal aid back to health after years of neglect’.
Tomorrow, Brimelow and Alejandra Llorente Tascon, co-chair of the Criminal Bar Association Young Bar sub-committee, will give evidence to the House of Commons justice select committee on the strike action and the government’s reaction, as well as the impact of the action on the court system.
Before the evidence session, barristers will gather outside courts across the country. The CBA stressed that the gatherings are not 'picket lines' but 'legitimate demonstrations in front of court buildings in support of CBA members’ actions'.
Meanwhile, the Solicitors' Association of Higher Courts Advocates (SAHCA) has issued an updated statement on the dispute between the government and the criminal bar.
SAHCA, which supports the criminal bar’s action, explained that advocates employed by firms that hold criminal contracts with the Legal Aid Agency are not normally able to take industrial action due to the terms of the contracts they sign with the LAA.
SAHCA said it did not support the Ministry of Justice’s attempts to ‘undermine the current action’ by contacting solicitor’s firms to act in cases where the criminal bar are undertaking industrial action. ‘We understand that the Ministry of Justice has had very little if any take up of such a scheme,’ the association said.
20 Readers' comments