The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, Simon Foster, is issuing the following statement after Barristers decided to strike across England and Wales as a consequence of the profession facing an “existential crisis” because of inadequate funding, following a 43% fall in real terms in the legal aid budget since 2004-05.
More than 1,000 cases will be impacted on each day of the strikes, the Criminal Bar Association has said.
Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster said: “For years this government has recklessly cut funding to the entire criminal justice system.
“It therefore shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody that barristers, who are sometimes having to take on cases that see them work for below the minimum wage, in circumstances where incomes have fallen nearly 30% over the last two decades, have had enough.
“It is disappointing that the government has chosen to unnecessarily starve the criminal justice system of cash, with the effect that it is victims of crime that suffer.”
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