Striking barristers should accept government’s ‘generous offer,’ justice minister says
Justice secretary James Cartlidge has called on striking barristers to “reconsider” their actions, after claiming the government’s current legal aid offer is “generous” enough.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Cartlidge accused “those engaged in action” of “threatening to increase waiting times” as he doubled down on existing plans to hike legal aid fees by 15 per cent.
“We think that is a generous offer, as I am sure most of our constituents would agree, in the light of what is happening with the economy,” the justice secretary said.
The comments come as barristers are set to continue their strike in the coming week – by staging four days of court walkouts – as they continue to call for a 25 per cent increase to legal aid fees.
Speaking to MPs, Cartlidge also claimed there are “huge legal questions” around backdating any fee hikes to ensure existing cases are covered, after barristers called for any fee increases to be applied to ongoing cases.
In response to Cartlidge’s comments, CBA president Jo Sidhu QC blamed the government for the worsening court backlog, as he noted there were already 58,653 cases waiting to be heard in English and Welsh Crown Courts months before the strike.
The CBA also said hit back at the government’s claims that backdating any fee increases would cause legal issues, as the body claimed the government’s own position is “wrong in law”.
A CBA spokesperson blamed a shortage of barristers for the backlog, as he noted that in the year running up the 31 March 2022 more than 1,000 criminal trials were “postponed at the last moment because there was no prosecuting or defence advocate available to deal with the case.”
“The criminal justice system has been grinding to a halt for a number of years, not because of us, but because the government has simply mismanaged the system and underfunded it considerably,” Sidhu said.