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Aug 22 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
The truth:

@DominicRaab has defunded criminal justice, causing a record #RaabBacklog in the courts.

He ignored the independent legal aid report he promised to implement.

He has refused to even speak to the @TheCriminalBar.

He is sacrificing victims on the altar of his vanity.
Barristers on strike: a history

2008-2018 Barrister income cut by 28%

2018 - govt promises independent review into fees

2019-2021 - tumbleweed

2021 - independent review published. @DominicRaab sits on it.

2022 - Raab refuses to implement report’s “urgent” recommendations.
A Justice Secretary fit for office would not lie about the problems in criminal justice.

He would not offer up a broken justice system for further cuts.

He would not abuse those who keep the system running.

He would not undermine and threaten.

He would not ignore victims.
By all means, let’s talk about who has held justice to ransom over the past twelve years.

Bring it on, @DominicRaab

A public debate between you and the Chair of the @TheCriminalBar. With fact checkers.

Let’s put our arguments before the public.

Are you in?

Or are you scared?

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More from @BarristerSecret

The Secret Barrister Profile picture
Aug 23
Evidence, if it were needed, of how little @jcartlidgemp understood the basics of his brief as justice minister.

His brilliant plan would

(A) Cost far more than it costs to pay independent barristers

(B) Instantly create a national shortage of barristers available to prosecute
Because here’s the thing that people like @jcartlidgemp fail to grasp.

Criminal barristers don’t just defend.

We don’t just prosecute.

Our independence means that we do both. We have the experience of both, which makes us better at both.

He wants to abolish this.

Insanity.
What @jcartlidgemp has done is read the stories like this, of a growing shortage of specialist criminal barristers available to prosecute serious crime, and think to himself:

“The solution is to ban barristers from prosecuting”.

The stupidity is off the scale.
Read 6 tweets
The Secret Barrister Profile picture
Aug 16
Given that @lucyfrazermp has taken the time to write about the criminal justice system, in her capacity as a barrister, it is only fair to take some time to explain why almost every line of this article is untrue, nonsensical or both.

[THREAD]
Let’s start with where Ms Frazer is correct, because this will be quick.

She is spot on that there are outrageous, unacceptable delays in the criminal justice system for victims of crime, particularly cases involving allegations of sexual offending.

Damn right. It’s a scandal.
But why do we have years of delays? Well here are a list of factors identified in independent reports that @lucyfrazermp *doesn’t* mention:

🔴21k police officers cut
🔴Crown Prosecution Service staff cuts
🔴Courts closed & sold off
🔴Court budgets cut
🔴Not enough barristers
Read 15 tweets
The Secret Barrister Profile picture
Jun 22
I agree that “courts must have regard to the interests of all those concerned in criminal trials [and] of the public”.

That includes the interests of the public in there being a viable independent criminal Bar.

Something which, with respect, seems to have been missed here.
The interests of “all concerned” includes the interests of junior barristers unable to make a living, terrified of what the future holds and bravely taking the only steps open to them in the face of an government that is wilfully destroying criminal justice.

Again, forgotten.
We have a government that has run up a record court backlog due to cuts and mismanagement; which has built years of delay into criminal justice; which has forced 25% of criminal barristers out of the profession, meaning there simply aren’t enough of us. And which doesn’t care.
Read 7 tweets
The Secret Barrister Profile picture
Jun 21
Conservative councillor @SBarrettBar (who likes to claim he is “non-political”) has filled the airwaves with more inaccurate government propaganda this morning.

Criminal barristers have *not* been offered a “15% pay rise”.

He also does not seem to understand the cab rank rule.
If Steven had done his research before anointing himself an expert on criminal legal aid, he would know that legal aid fees have fallen so low that our regulator says that they do not represent “a proper professional fee”, and we are entitled to decline those cases.
We don’t usually decline, of course. We do the work, at a fraction of the fees that Steven (entirely properly) charges his clients.

But, for the reasons set out in this post, we are now saying no. No to new cases that don’t fairly reflect the work we do. thesecretbarrister.com/2022/04/11/why…
Read 5 tweets
The Secret Barrister Profile picture
Jun 14
Some lawyers have argued in support of the government’s actions.

Other lawyers have argued in support of the rights of those affected.

All have done their professional duty to their client, irrespective of personal or political belief.

All are essential to the rule of law.
Tomorrow, one set of these lawyers will be attacked by government ministers.

The Prime Minister and Home Secretary will denigrate them as “lefty activists” who “abet criminals”.

MPs will accuse them of having “blood on their hands”.

This is an attack on the rule of law itself.
The lawyers who, tomorrow, will have their personal safety jeopardised by the ugly, self-serving populism of the Prime Minister and his servile cabinet, are the same cadre of “lefty lawyers” who @BorisJohnson went crawling to when he was accused of criminal offences.
Read 4 tweets
The Secret Barrister Profile picture
Jun 4
As people have asked (and you only have yourselves to blame)…

1. The precise charge isn’t reported, which is a huge error for reasons we’ll get to. But in any event, whatever the charge, there is no criminal offence in existence that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years.
2. “Prosecutors decided to pursue him on the lightest possible charge”. That charge is not specified. Presumably that means he was charged with possession of a controlled drug of Class B, rather than possession with intent to supply or production/cultivation of cannabis. But…
3. …if he was indeed charged with simple possession of cannabis, the Sentencing Guideline provides a starting point of a fine, and a range as low as a discharge (no action taken). So this doesn’t square with a community order being “the lowest possible sentence”.
Read 12 tweets

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