Government scraps controversial plans to curb jury trials
The plan, aimed at tackling the court backlog, faced opposition from legal professionals and MPs over concerns about fairness
Andy Burnham has made a U-turn on controversial plans to curb jury trials.
Listen to this article
The decision scraps Sir Keir Starmer’s proposals, which were put forward as part of efforts to tackle the court backlog.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has revealed that only select fraud and financial offences will now be allowed to be heard before a judge alone without a jury.
Justice Secretary Alex Norris said he had decided to “change course” after hearing the “strength of feeling on the proposals”.
The plan faced a backlash from legal professionals and MPs, with critics raising concerns over fairness, the curtailing of rights and whether there was sufficient evidence the scheme would actually help reduce the backlog.
MoJ figures from the end of June showed there were 80,829 cases still to be dealt with, with the backlog having almost doubled in size since 2020.
Read more: 'Lynchpin of a fair society' Andy Burnham to scrap plans to curb jury trials
Read more: Kemi Badenoch pledges to build 50,000 prison places in seven years
Barrister Karl Turner, who had the Labour whip suspended after criticising the plan, praised the decision and thanked Andy Burnham “for his support during my campaign”.
Reacting to the announcement, Mr Turner said: “I strongly welcome the fact that the new Justice Secretary, Alex Norris, has rightly binned the unworkable plans to curtail jury trials pursued under the previous Labour prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer."
“I have been pleased to engage directly with the Justice Secretary and his political advisers in recent weeks, and those discussions have been constructive and encouraging."
Former justice secretary David Lammy, who endorsed the move, had told MPs the changes were “desperately needed” to prevent victims facing “agonising delays”.
Mr Lammy had sought to limit jury trials to “indictable-only” offences such as murder and rape, as well as lesser “either-way” offences with a likely sentence of more than three years in prison.
Other cases would have been heard by a single Crown Court judge.
The proposal received backing from MPs at its first Commons hurdle earlier this year.
However, Mr Norris stressed that scrapping the proposal would allow the Government to cut the backlog faster, as it would require less structural change.
The Justice Secretary said: “This Government inherited criminal courts on the brink of collapse, with victims waiting years for their day in court."
“I remain committed to bringing down the backlog and delivering swifter justice for those who so desperately need it."
“But I have heard the strength of feeling on the proposals for increasing the number of judge-alone trials in the crown court and have made the decision to change course."
Shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy said: “This is a major victory for everyone who fought to defend trial by jury, and Conservatives led that fight from day one. Labour have been forced to abandon its central attack on jury trials in the Crown Court."
“Labour are restricting juries by the back door, scrapping the right to elect one and dumping those cases on magistrates whose backlog is at a record high.”
It has also been confirmed by the MoJ that criminals accused of “relatively minor crimes” will lose the right to choose a Crown Court jury trial rather than a magistrates one, with courts having the final say on where “either-way” offences are sent.