The walkout in England and Wales is not merely about pay: it is about a criminal justice system that has been left to crumble
This Friday, criminal barristers in England and Wales will leave work not knowing when they’ll be back. I’m a criminal barrister and QC, and together with the vast majority of barristers in my profession, I voted in favour of this strike. Barristers are doing this with a heavy heart: we know it will add to the unprecedented backlog of cases in the crown court. So why are we taking this step? The answer is a simple one: those of us who work, day in day out, in the criminal courts fear for the very survival of the criminal justice system.
The dispute we have with the Ministry of Justice is not just about pay. The criminal justice system is unravelling at the seams. The backlog of cases currently stands at 60,000. Court buildings are crumbling and often unsafe. Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service, the lifeblood of the criminal justice system, is understaffed and facing increasing pressure. Before Covid, the government cut the number of sitting days in the crown court by 20% to save costs. This has not been reversed, so courts now sit empty and idle while the backlog of cases grows.
Simon Spence QC is a criminal barrister at Red Lion Chambers
