A mass walkout is being planned by criminal defence solicitors next week in protest at new working practices that will bring chaos to magistrates courts and police stations across the country.

Thousands of solicitors are expected to refuse to represent their clients in court or see new clients in police custody as a demonstration of their anger at Government plans to make them tender for work.

At least 20 magistrates courts in London will be hit during the strikes planned for next Thursday and Friday as well as courts across the country including Portsmouth, Southampton, Hull, Goole, Gwent, Newport, Lancaster, Wiltshire, Carlisle, East Dorset and Blackpool.

The proposed action was condemned today as "unnecessary and irresponsible" by the Department for Constitutional Affairs which said it would harm the interests of victims and defendants.

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A spokesman said: "We are disappointed that some solicitors may be considering this type of protest.

"Lord Falconer [of Thoroton] has previously urged solicitors not to take disruptive action and we strongly believe that by doing so, solicitors would not be acting in their clients best interests. "

Legal aid solicitors will refuse to see new or existing customers meaning that courts will have many hours of delays as defendants are brought up from the cells and then taken down again when there is no-one to represent them.

Witnesses and alleged victims of crime will also have to endure longer waits for cases to be settled.

Roger Peach, the president of the Criminal Defence Solicitors Union, told Times Online that he had never seen such anger among his colleagues across the country.

“This has been like a volcano where the anger of defence solicitors has been bubbling away and there is massive well of resentment.

“Everyone agrees that the criminal defence system is in a fragile state and it is tottering. Thousands of solicitors will be taking part in this strike and inevitably there is a real chance it will cause chaos to the criminal justice system."

The solicitors are angry at a radical redistribution of legal aid work that will see firms bidding for the contract to operate in an area.

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