Point of order.
The Criminal Bar Association’s strike is in protest at the 15 per cent increase in the legal aid budget which it claims is inadequate. They are demanding a minimum of 25 per cent.
Some barristers may be well paid but a cut in the legal aid budget means they have to work for less or take on fewer legal aid cases.
Irrespective of what someone earns, I see it as a point of principle regarding underfunded public services. Underfunding should not result in the working people who provide those public services having to work for less, whatever their profession, especially now, when the cost of living is going through the roof. The alternative is a reduction in public services which means that fewer people who are entitled to help with legal costs will be able to get it.
I don’t see it as any different to, say, expecting medical professions to have to work for less to compensate for an underfunded NHS. In 2015, Jeremy Hunt fell foul of junior doctors when he tried to impose new contracts which unions claimed would result in an increase in working hours with a relative pay cut of up to 40%. Similar principle here I think.
