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CRIMINAL barristers will walk out next week after voting for strike action in a dispute over legal aid.
The Criminal Bar Association (CBA), which represents barristers in England and Wales, said yesterday that over 80 per cent of its 2,055 members have voted in support of strikes.
The action comes amid warnings of an exodus of criminal barristers due to a 43 per cent fall in real terms in the legal aid budget since 2004-5.
Ministers have proposed a 9 per cent increase in pay, but this falls far below the 15 per cent rise the association has demanded.
Jo Sidhu QC and Kirsty Brimelow QC from the CBA said: “Without immediate action to halt the exodus of criminal barristers from our ranks, the record backlog that has crippled our courts will continue to inflict misery upon victims and defendants alike, and the public will be betrayed.”
A four-week series of walkouts starts on Monday and Tuesday (June 27 and 28).
