Scrapping juries won’t fix a broken justice system, and ministers know it, writes Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst MP

Apparently this is the balm that washes away all the problems in our justice system - a system which, for too long, has been dogged by underinvestment by successive governments.

The Government will, in line with the ordered review by retired senior judge Sir Brian Leveson, scrap juries for offences carrying sentences of up to three years, all in the name of ‘clearing the backlog’.

It is no exaggeration to ask whether the Lord Chancellor’s announcement marks the beginning of a slow erosion of a person’s fundamental right to a fair and just legal process - a filter from potential prejudice.

And since he admitted this morning that this decision won’t clear the backlog by the next election, what is stopping him from lifting it to offences which may carry an offence of up to 10 years? Herein lies the slippery slope.

The core of the problem facing our justice system is chronic underfunding from governments on all sides. HM Courts and Tribunals Service is still operating with real-terms day-to-day spending 12 per cent lower than in 2010/11, despite only marginal increases in recent years and less than a 1 per cent rise under Labour in 2024/25.

And yet the NHS resource budget is around 40 per cent higher in real terms than in 2010.

While the Government’s 2025 spending review promised up to £450 million a year in extra funding by 2028/29, it remains unclear how much of this will actually reach frontline services rather than being absorbed into long-term capital projects.

There is no denying the neglect here vis-à-vis other governmental departments. In addition to the backlog in our courts, Britain’s prisons are overrun too, often rife with drugs and staff feeling overwhelmed.

The entire situation is unsustainable and leads to chaotic early releases we read about daily.

As a newly elected Conservative MP, I carry no allegiance to decisions taken years ago by others.

But what I will do is defend the centuries-old, settled constitutional practice of a citizen to be judged by twelve of his or her peers. It is an essential democratic safeguard, not a decorative relic which should be sidelined.

A responsible Government would properly deal with the structural crisis facing both justice and prison systems, but that would first require a responsible Government.

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Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst MP is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Solihull West and Shirley, elected in 2024. He previously served as a British Army Medical Officer and barrister, and sits on the House of Commons Justice Committee.

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