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The government has “gone back on its word and resumed its attack on the criminal Bar” the new Criminal Bar Association (“CBA”) Chairman Paul Mendelle QC has warned.
In a letter to The Times , Mendelle, of 25 Bedford Row, accused the government of “spinning the facts” in its proposals to reduce fees for criminal defence work. The proposals were presented “as correcting an anomaly in order to bring defence fees into line with prosecution fees. They are nothing of the sort and the spin disguises a naked attempt by the government to go back on its word.
The government may be hoping the general public will have forgotten the facts, but the Bar certainly has not,” he wrote. “A government, apparently dissatisfied with its own independent review, has gone back on its word and resumed its attack on the criminal Bar by proposing to cut defence fees. Its actions will prevent many talented young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds or ethnic minorities, from becoming or remaining criminal barristers, with ultimate damage to the diversity of the judiciary.” He warned that although the government might suppose it was “simply inflicting pain on the few at the Bar” it was the criminal justice that would “suffer in the long run”.
The government may be hoping the general public will have forgotten the facts, but the Bar certainly has not,” he wrote. “A government, apparently dissatisfied with its own independent review, has gone back on its word and resumed its attack on the criminal Bar by proposing to cut defence fees. Its actions will prevent many talented young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds or ethnic minorities, from becoming or remaining criminal barristers, with ultimate damage to the diversity of the judiciary.” He warned that although the government might suppose it was “simply inflicting pain on the few at the Bar” it was the criminal justice that would “suffer in the long run”.
The government has “gone back on its word and resumed its attack on the criminal Bar” the new Criminal Bar Association (“CBA”) Chairman Paul Mendelle QC has warned.
In a letter to The Times, Mendelle, of 25 Bedford Row, accused the government of “spinning the facts” in its proposals to reduce fees for criminal defence work. The proposals were presented “as correcting an anomaly in order to bring defence fees into line with prosecution fees. They are nothing of the sort and the spin disguises a naked attempt by the government to go back on its word.
Chair of the Bar reports back
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