THOUSANDS of criminal barristers across England and Wales are set to launch all-out strike action today as an increasingly bitter dispute over poverty pay escalates.

Members of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) have been walking out on alternate weeks since June but overwhelmingly voted in favour of indefinite, uninterrupted industrial action last week.

The continuous strike, which is scheduled to officially begin next Monday, effectively starts today as the final alternate week of walkouts begins. 

According to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures, more than 6,000 court hearings have been disrupted as a result of the dispute, which is about working conditions and government-set fees for legal aid.

The vital advocacy work sees those unable to afford expensive legal fees provided with representation in court.

Tory ministers claim that criminal barristers are due to receive a 15 per cent fee rise from the end of September — about £7,000 per day more. 

But the proposed boost will not apply immediately and is set to only cover new cases, not those already sitting in the huge backlog waiting to be dealt with by courts after the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated a decade of budget cuts. 

Last week, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused Tory ministers of doing absolutely nothing to resolve the dispute after it emerged that Justice Secretary Dominic Raab was on holiday as the results of the ballot were announced last Monday.

The former foreign secretary was on leave with his family in Surrey until last Thursday, although a spokeswoman claimed that he was in regular contact with MoJ officials.

The Esher and Walton MP has not met the CBA during the dispute, but junior ministers have held regular meetings with the group. 

He accused the workers of “holding justice to ransom,” telling the right-wing Daily Mail newspaper: “Your actions are only harming victims, increasing the court backlog and hampering our efforts to make our streets safer.”

But Claire Waxman, the victims’ commissioner for London, blamed Mr Raab’s inaction and said: “The only ones responsible for holding justice to ransom are those who have failed to fund a functioning justice system.”

Her counterpart for England and Wales, Dame Vera Baird QC, said the system had been “severely and recklessly underfunded and it is victims who are ultimately paying the price.”