New Justice Secretary Brandon Lewis
(Picture: PA Wire)New Justice Secretary Brandon Lewis is under immediate pressure to end the barristers strike and get criminal courts working again after promising “swift access to justice” as a top priority.
The 51-year-old is the seventh Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor in seven years, inheriting a backlog of around 60,000 criminal cases, courts struggling with chronic delays, and lawyers and court staff in open revolt.
Lewis’ predecessor Dominic Raab infuriated the legal profession by refusing to negotiate in a legal aid dispute, sparking a strike which had brought the criminal courts largely to a standstill.
The new Justice Secretary’s appointment was immediately met with calls to “get round the negotiation table…pronto”, while Criminal Bar Association (CBA) chair Kirsty Brimelow QC told MPs yesterday they are ready for talks to end to the strike immediately.
“We are absolutely willing to negotiate and have been all year”, she said. “It’s kind of heart-breaking for a lot of people that we are in this position.”
The CBA say a 25 per cent increase to legal aid fees is needed to stop barristers from shunning criminal work, while any pay rise should be applied to existing cases in the system.
In June, while discussing strikes as Northern Ireland secretary, Lewis remarked: “I don’t think many people will feel barristers are particularly underpaid.”
He is a qualified barrister himself, and promised last night to “work tirelessly to protect the public from serious offenders, improve the safety of our prisons, reduce reoffending and deliver swift access to justice for all.”
In a statement, Bar Council chair Mark Fenhalls QC welcomed the appointment of Lewis and the news Michael Ellis QC will be Attorney General.
“An open and accessible justice system that upholds the rule of law is more critical than ever”, he said.
“The Government must commit to sufficiently funding the legal system so that the public gets the service it deserves and stop the attacks on lawyers that undermine confidence in the rule of law and the UK’s legal sector at home and abroad.
“The most urgent problem to fix is in the criminal courts and that means barristers must be paid the same for the backlog cases as for new cases.
“A change at the very top of Government offers a chance to find new solutions.”
Lewis’ bulging in-tray also includes a pending strike by magistrates court staff over the performance of the Common Platform IT system and walkouts by court security staff over pay.
Raab leaves behind his Bill of Rights Bill, a controversial attempt to overhaul human rights, and Lewis will be charged with completing a long-running £1 billion reform programme in the courts and tribunals.
