Barristers striking over legal aid funding are within ‘touching distance’ of achieving a fair settlement, criminal bar chief Jo Sidhu QC has said as he prepares to stand down.
2022 has been a ‘turning point’ in the history of the Criminal Bar Association, Sidhu said in his final message as chair.
‘We spoke truth to power while holding up a mirror to ourselves. We rediscovered our worth and our confidence. From the survey in January, the refusal to undertake returns in April, the decision to pursue days and weeks of action in June and, finally, to the unprecedented vote in the latest ballot to refuse to attend court indefinitely for AGFS cases, we have delivered an unequivocal message of unity. On each occasion you responded with an overwhelming vote in favour of action. Government can be in no doubt that the criminal bar stands together today like never before.’
As well as directing the public’s focus towards the ‘unrelenting exploitation of our junior criminal barristers whose voices had gone unheard for too long’, the association ‘recalibrated’ its relationship with the Ministry of Justice, judiciary, Bar Council, circuit leaders, Crown Prosecution Service, solicitor practitioner groups, unions and the media ‘to ensure that we retain control over our own agenda and priorities and are able freely and effectively to promote the issues that matter most to our members’.
As the Conservative party prepares to elect a new leader, Sidhu reminded the incoming cabinet of the criminal bar’s demands: a 25% fee uplift for written work, a clear timetable for the implementation of Sir Christopher Bellamy’s recommendations on wasted and special preparation, a second brief fee for section 28 cases, and a pay review body ‘that protects us from the ravages of inflation’.
‘And the prerequisite for all these changes must be an application of the fee increases to future work on the nearly 60,000 cases in the current backlog. It is the least you should expect after the sacrifices you have made,’ he added.
Next week barristers will escalate their industrial action by striking every day until they receive what they consider to be a fair settlement over legal aid fees – although a continuous strike has effectively already begun as this week is a scheduled ‘week of action’ under the current terms of action.
Sidhu said: ‘Courage and an unshakeable resolve have brought us this far. The tide is turning in our favour. We are within touching distance of a resolution that reflects the just and equitable demands we have made, and which have been mandated repeatedly by the ordinary men and women who defend and prosecute in our criminal courts throughout the jurisdiction.’
Barristers and solicitors were quick to voice their gratitude to Sidhu for his leadership over the past year.
25 Bedford Row barrister Leon-Nathan Lynch, who spoke powerfully about the importance of proper legal aid funding for racial diversity in July, said: 'In years to come, the bar will speak about this summer of discontent - the moment the bar said "enough is enough!". Thank you Jo Sidhu QC for bravely leading the charge. We salute you.'
Solicitor Raj Chada, head of the criminal defence team at Hodge Jones & Allen, said: 'Whatever happens, Jo Sidhu has done an amazing job, showing true leadership not just for the bar, but for the criminal justice system as a whole.'
Sidhu will be succeeded by vice-chair Kirsty Brimelow QC.
7 Readers' comments