FDA organised the initiative as part of its Manifesto for Justice campaign, which has been backed by the Bar Council and Law Society. The campaign calls on the government to halt legal aid cuts, properly resource the CPS, invest in digital disclosure and give competitive pay and fees to help recruit and retain lawyers in this area.
Steven Littlewood, FDA national officer, said: ‘For too long, the state of criminal justice in this country has been swept under the carpet.
‘The government believed the public wouldn't fight for it. But these letters prove that they will.’
He said that, even if 20,000 police officers were recruited, as the prime minister has promised, ‘say these officers arrest more individuals―without new prosecutors and defence lawyers, who will charge them? How will suspects be found innocent or guilty?’
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