Wednesday 9 April 2014

Criminal Bar Association votes NO

Update 10th April:  Message from the Chairman of the Criminal Bar Association

As reported in my earlier post (A pivotal decision for the criminal bar), members of the Criminal Bar Association were balloted on the following motion:



“Do you wish to continue no returns and days of action until all the cuts and reduction in contracts are abandoned”

Yes


No



The result was that 1878 votes were received.  629 voted YES and 1249 voted NO.  I understand that the 1878 voting figure is under 50% of those who were eligible to vote.

More details of the result are at Criminal Bar Association - Results of the ballot

I suspect that there will be relief in the Ministry of Justice and despair from other legal professionals who are fighting against the government's regressive plans for justice.  I feel sure that the majority of the legal profession - irrespective of the part to which they belong - will feel that justice is under attack from the government which has enacted cuts to civil legal aid (see Access Denied - Catherine Baksi, Law Society Gazette 7th April), is imposing cuts to criminal legal aid and has acted to impose restrictions on access to judicial review.  The key question now
will be whether the overall profession can mount a united front in the fight for justice for the citizen.  I hope that it can.   Here is some of the Twitter reaction ....





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