The lord chief justice has refused to publicly take sides in the dispute between the government and criminal bar over legal aid fees – but called for the situation to be resolved quickly before more solicitors and barristers quit publicly funded work.

Since 11 April, hundreds of criminal barristers have adopted a policy of ‘no returns’ in response to the government's proposed criminal legal aid reforms, which they believe are insufficient to resolve a long-running sustainability crisis. The action will escalate next week with London criminal defence solicitors refusing to take on low-paid work, starting with burglary cases.

Lord Burnett of Maldon told the House of Lords constitution committee yesterday that he encouraged the government to accept the recommendations of an independent review led by retired judge Sir Christopher Bellamy ‘and really get on with it’.

He said: ‘As you know, there is a dispute between the government and the bar in particular. It is vitally important I say nothing, I do nothing which indicates taking any sides in what is, put crudely, an industrial dispute. But I would echo again the need to deal with this problem. If it is not dealt with, the numbers of criminal barristers and solicitors will continue to decline at a time when police numbers are going up and there is enormous pressure on the police and the prosecuting authority to bring more cases into the criminal courts.’

The ’reservoir’ of lawyers is limited, he added. ‘If in five years’ time the political ambition is to have many, many, many more cases in the Crown courts, my question is who’s going to try them, who’s going to prosecute them and who’s going to defend them, if there aren’t some pretty profound steps taken to enhance the capacity at every stage?’

A government spokesperson said: ‘We are increasing investment in criminal legal aid by £135m a year - the biggest increase in a decade – to ensure professionals are better paid for the work they carry out and help free up capacity in courts. The number of outstanding cases in the courts is falling and we are spending nearly half a billion pounds, keeping open 30 extra courtrooms and increasing magistrates’ powers to speed up justice for victims.’