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Criminal barristers are threatening mass walkouts aimed at closing down the courts in protest against government cuts to legal aid.
In an overwhelming show of support for confrontation with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the 4,000-strong membership of the Criminal Bar Association has voted to back direct action.
About 96% of those responding to the CBA survey said they would consider stopping work. Negotiations with the MoJ are expected in the coming days.
The CBA chairman, Tony Cross QC, said: “No barrister wishes to withhold his/her labour. It is a measure of the extreme nature of our concern that so many of our members are contemplating such action.
“Spending on legal aid has already dropped by a third since 2009-10, meeting government targets several years ahead of schedule. No other sector of government spending has borne such brutal cuts. There is simply no room or need for more.”
The CBA, which represents criminal barristers in England and Wales, is calling on the MoJ to abandon its plans to restructure the duty solicitor contract scheme for attending police stations and magistrates courts. It believes the changes, reducing the number of contracts by two-thirds, will lead to solicitors taking away work traditionally carried out by barristers.
Cross said: “The proposed changes have no sensible economic foundation and will lead to irreversible damage to the criminal justice system. The proposed scheme will reduce competition, stifle innovation and paralyse the market as it becomes closed to new entrants.
“The overwhelming support of our members demonstrates the seriousness of our purpose: our commitment to effective access to justice for all our citizens. We know that as lord chancellor, the secretary of state for justice understands the importance to society of a healthy and effective criminal justice system. We remain committed to constructive dialogue with the government to ensure that our country has a system that is fit for the 21stcentury.”
Barristers staged a series of walkouts last spring in protest at earlier cuts to legal aid. Any days of action are likely to cause disruption to the courts. Advocates may also refuse to accept “returns ” – covering for colleagues at hearings.
More than 35% of the membership responded to the CBA survey. Criminal solicitors are expected to support the “no returns” policy.
The vote represents an abrupt end to the goodwill honeymoon that the new justice secretary, Michael Gove, might have expected.
Jonathan Black, president of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association, said: “We are delighted that the CBA has balloted its members with overwhelming support for a no returns campaign. We witnessed last spring the strength of a united approach from both sides of the profession.
“If our colleagues did not understand the threat of duty solicitor contracts to the provision of on-call services and indeed the existence of two-thirds of the providers in March 2104 , then we are confident that they do now, and we appreciate the work of the CBA in explaining that.
“Such a scheme would be devastating for the future of the criminal bar. Should action be considered a necessary step, then we shall, as on the last occasion, do everything to urge our members to participate jointly with our sister profession.”
Bill Waddington, chair of the Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association, also welcomed the result. “The Criminal Bar Association’s overwhelming vote in favour of direct action in response to the government’s unworkable two-tier contract is hugely welcome and underlies the strength of feeling against their legal aid reforms among the profession,” he said.
“We hope the arrival of a fresh face [at the MoJ] in the form of Mr Gove will see the government push the reset button on their legal aid reforms. We would welcome the opportunity to engage and work constructively with them to preserve our justice system and the treasured principles of access to justice and equality before the law.”
The MoJ has repeatedly defended cuts to legal aid on the grounds that savings have to be made to government spending and that the UK has one of the largest legal aid bills.
Critics say that does not take into account the overall budget because comparable European states, with inquisitorial systems of justice, spend far more on judges.
Protests against legal aid cuts have also erupted in Northern Ireland, a separate jurisdiction, this week. KRW Law, a leading criminal defence firm, has said it could no longer afford to take on cases because of the sharp reduction in legal aid fees.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010
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