Bradford barristers urged the public to support them as they took industrial action today in their fight to stop legal aid cuts which they say will hit the criminal justice system.

Dozens of lawyers protested outside Bradford Crown Court as part of a half-day national stoppage - the first time in legal history they had refused to attend court.

The Government is proposing a further 20 per cent cut in legal aid fees as part of £220million savings from the legal aid budget.

But Michelle Colborne QC, head of Broadway Chambers in Bradford, said: “The very future of our criminal justice system is in jeopardy by the imposition of savage cuts to funding. We will not sit idly by and watch its destruction.”