Picket Line Outside the Old Bailey as UK Barristers go on Strike Over Legal Aid

Around 50 barristers, wearing traditional wigs, set up a picket line outside the Old Bailey—the most famous court in Britain—as a strike began on Monday over pay and working conditions.

Barristers also set up picket lines outside courts in Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, and Cardiff.

Outside the Old Bailey, Lucie Wibberley, secretary of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), said: “We’re here to protest against the unacceptable pay and working conditions those working in the justice system are currently facing. Action will take place in the hope the Government comes to the negotiating table.”

Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said the barrister strike was “regrettable” and would “only delay justice for victims.”

Among the Old Bailey trials affected by the strike was that of three men accused of murdering Billy McCullagh, 27, who was shot dead during a clash between gangs in Harlesden, northwest London, in July 2020.

On Friday prosecutor Oliver Glasgow, QC was about to cross examine one of the defendants, Issa Seed, but the case was adjourned and the judge said it would probably not be sitting on Monday.

Seed, Adel Yussuf, 25, and Daniel Mensah, 30, all deny murdering Billy. The prosecution claim they were in a stolen Land Rover which attacked a rival gang and they are on trial on the basis of “transferred malice.”

‘Appalling’ Legal Aid Rates

Barrister and LBC presenter, Daniel Barnett, wrote on Twitter: “Legal Aid rates of pay for criminal barristers are appalling. Many are paid less than minimum wage. If they were employees, they would sue – and win. And HMRC [Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs] would prosecute the Legal Aid Agency. But they’re not. So they can’t. So they have to strike. Good luck to them.”

In a statement released on the eve of the strike, Raab said: “It’s regrettable that the Criminal Bar Association is striking, given only 43.5 percent of their members voted for this particular, most disruptive, option. I encourage them to agree the proposed 15 percent pay rise which would see a typical barrister earn around £7,000 more a year.”

The CBA had said the turnout in its ballot on industrial action was 81.5 percent, and 53 percent of those who voted were in favour of a strike.

A CBA spokesman said the 15 percent rise would not apply to backlogged cases, of which there were 58,271 in April.

He said, “The existing rates will remain on all of the cases stuck on this record backlog until they conclude which may be many years away.”

Jo Sidhu, QC, chair of the CBA, said the strike was not only about pay but about “redressing the shortfall in the supply of criminal barristers to help deal with the crisis in our courts.”

Sidhu, a former Labour Party councillor who unsuccessfully sought to become an MP in 2019, said, “We have already suffered an average decrease in our real earnings of 28 percent since 2006 and juniors in their first three years of practice earn a median income of only £12,200, which is below minimum wage.”

He said 4 out of 10 junior criminal barristers left the profession in their first year.

PA Media contributed to this report.