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Critics say this will mean that the losing firms in the same area will probably go out of business or will have to merge. Even though the bidding process will come round again in a couple of years Mr Peach believes that the same firm will win the contract again as there will not be any competing firms left.

“The whole point is to make it absolutely clear to the Government that the system cannot run without the cooperation of defence solicitors and this Government has forfeited defence solicitors' trust.

“This is the biggest protest I have ever seen and it is spontaneous, nothing is being organised, solicitors are hearing about it and wanting to take part.”

Mr Peach warned that if the proposals were not changed then there could be further action. “I have spoken to hundreds of solicitors and if this set of proposals is not abandoned I can see a mass walkout of criminal defence services and its collapse.”

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Desmond Hudson, the chief executive of the Law Society, said: "It is difficult to recall any other issue generating so much strength of feeling among solicitors as the current set of changes to legal aid. We share our members' alarm and grave concerns.

"The concept of access to justice, irrespective of the means to pay, is at stake. Many legal aid solicitors feel they have been abused for too long by the Government. No-one should be surprised by their frustration or determination. "

Richard Miller, the chairman of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, which represents some 500 firms, said: "We understand why solicitors are taking the action that they are but we do not recommend it and would not encourage people to do anything that might be seen to be acting unlawfully, in breach of any contract or whatever. Legally it's a grey area."

But he added that he was in sympathy with the solicitors' feelings. "There is an almost universal view that these proposals will be devastating for the legal aid scheme and very damaging for clients."

A spokeswoman for the Crown Prosecution Service said that any strike action would disappointing. “It may be that cases are delayed, clients will have to wait longer for cases to be resolved, witnesses will have to wait longer to give evidence and defendants will have to wait longer for cases to be decided.

“We will work closely with criminal justice agencies to ensure that as many cases as possible can continue to be processed by the courts.”

The move comes after legal aid solicitors forced a special general meeting of the Law Society in January over their concerns about the plans.

An early day motion warning ministers that if they rush ahead with plans hundreds of firms will close has now attracted 118 signatures from MPs, of which 57, almost half, are Labour members.

Pressure will be further heaped on the Government by the announcement from the Constitutional Affairs Committee that it intends to hold an inquiry into the legal aid proposals, based on a report from Lord Carter of Coles.

A spokesman for the Department for Constitutional Affairs added that the proposals "addressed concerns around the timing, sequencing and detail of the reforms, including a further consultation on the family fees.

“The Law Society and others welcomed this. We urge solicitors to continue to work with us to make the proposals work, rather than put clients at risk.”

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