Raab Blames Barristers Over Strike as Victims’ Commissioner Warns Knife Crime Could Rise

Criminal defence barristers rally in support of the ongoing Criminal Bar Association action, outside the Houses of Parliament, in London, on July 11, 2022. Stefan Rousseau/PA Media

The government minister in charge of the courts in England and Wales has accused barristers of “holding justice to ransom” after they voted to stage an all-out strike next month.

On Monday the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), which has been staging periodic strikes since June, announced its members had voted to withdraw their labour altogether from Sept. 5, which threatens to derail hundreds of trials up and down the country.