Kent’s crown courts will be thrown into further chaos after barristers voted to go on strike in a row over legal aid funding.

Walkouts over several days will begin from Monday next week disrupting cases in Maidstone and Canterbury crown courts.

The industrial action, which comes amid swelling unrest over working conditions and pay levels, is the latest planned strike announced in recent weeks.

A total of 81.5% of more than 2,000 advocates voted to support industrial action, the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) has said.

Jo Sidhu QC and Kirsty Brimelow QC from the CBA said: “This extraordinary commitment to the democratic process reflects a recognition amongst criminal barristers at all levels of call and across all Circuits that what is at stake is the survival of a profession of specialist criminal advocates and of the criminal justice system which depends so critically upon their labour.

“Without immediate action to halt the exodus of criminal barristers from our ranks, the record backlog that has crippled our courts will continue to inflict misery upon victims and defendants alike, and the public will be betrayed.”

The CBA said members have backed a plan for 14 days of action between June 27 and July 22.

It is expected to increase by one day each week until a five-day strike from Monday, 17 and 18 July to Friday, 22 July.

In April, defence barristers voted to "work to rule" and refused to cover each other’s cases - work known as 'returns' - for colleagues at Maidstone and Canterbury Crown Court.

The backlog of cases - which has been made worse during the Covid crises - has resulted in some trials taking three or four years to be heard.