Bar Council comment on criminal Bar vote to escalate action

Commenting on the news that criminal barristers have voted to escalate action from Monday 5 September, Mark Fenhalls QC, Chair of the Bar Council, said:

“It is a matter of deep regret to all of us that barristers have been driven as a last resort to take this further action. Members of the criminal Bar have been feeling mistreated, undervalued and overwhelmed for a decade or more.

“Politicians cannot be in any doubt as to the dire state of the criminal justice system. Ministers must look again immediately at ways to fund the backlog cases and bring a resolution to this difficult situation.”