Newark Advertiser poll: Do you support strike action by over 80% of barristers across England and Wales?

Imagine you were accused of a monstrous crime you know you did not commit and you were brought before the criminal courts — you'd want the best defence barrister going.

But what if you were told they had only looked at your case, sometimes hundreds of pages long, the night before you were to appear in court? You'd be livid.

This, however, is normal in criminal proceedings as there just isn't the time, says barrister Adrian Amer, of Newark, who has been practising for 38 years and is striking along with eight out of ten barristers across England and Wales.

"The government is going to try and pretend that this is covid-related but it's not," he told the Advertiser. "There were loads of cases outstanding before covid hit and there are more now.

"When I'm prosecuting I'll have a rape victim ask me 'why has it taken so long to get to court?' having waited sometimes as long as two or three years.

"And I say 'I'm really sorry, but courts have been sold off, there aren't enough judges sitting, there aren't enough barristers like me to prosecute these cases' — and you can imagine a rape victim thinking 'my goodness what's actually happening?'

"It's bad enough a rape victim has to be cross examined two or three years after, and of course if there are lapses in their memory, it's very hard for a jury to properly assess them."

Mr Amer, who practises in courts across the East Midlands, Thames Valley and London, said the public assume criminal barristers are rich with massive detached houses and flashy cars — but that this is just not the case.

"My car is 18 years old and I live in a terrace house in Newark," he said.

"We [barristers] haven't had a respective pay rise in a considerable period of time, Legal Aid rates have been cut by nearly 40% over the last 15 years and we've had an average decrease in incomes on average by 28% over the last two decades."

Read the full story here and vote in our poll below.

The strikes will last for four weeks and trials are expected to be postponed.

Barristers will walk out on Monday, June 27, and Tuesday, June 28, before increasing strikes by one day each week until a five-day walkout starts on July 18.

We want to know if you, the reader, support strike action by more than 80% of barristers in England and Wales. Vote in our poll below.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.