Labour MP eviscerates 'stark raving barmy' Lammy axing juries in furious rant at his own leadership
Karl Turner, MP for Kingston upon Hull East, called the plans 'the daftest idea that any Justice Secretary could have come up with'
Labour MP Karl Turner has eviscerated David Lammy over plans to axe juries for thousands of cases to clear the crown court backlog.
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The former barrister has raged against the Justice Secretary's plans to axe jury trials to free up sitting days for more serious crimes.
The MP for Kingston upon Hull East told LBC's Ben Kentish that Lammy, who he worked with while in Opposition has "got it incredibly badly wrong" and that arguments being made to defend the plans are "fundamentally dishonest".
Mr Turner told Ben that the argument that the right to a jury trial is causing the backlog "is just a complete lie".
Earlier this week, Mr Lammy announced the abolition of jury trials for thousands of cases that could have a likely sentence of three years or less.
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The furious backbencher said of the plans: "It makes me incredibly angry, Ben.
"[This is] the daftest idea... that any Justice Secretary of any political party could have ever come up with. That's how daft it is in my view.
"It is absolutely stark raving barmy. It's the Labour Party in government that comes along and does the worst thing they could ever do to the English criminal legal system that anybody could ever dream of."
Mr Turner said he'd remonstrated with the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer about the plans.
He told Ben that he had warned Sir Keir that the plans risk falling apart similarly to welfare reforms which were scuppered by a backbench rebellion earlier this year.
Mr Turner said: "I spoke with Keir on Tuesday night and I told him my fear is this is going to be a situation like the welfare benefit stuff where he marches Labour MPs up the hill and then he marches them back down again when the penny drops up. This can't get through Parliament."
"These officials need to go into the system and find the answers by finding out what the problems are. And I can tell them what the problems are.
"They need to do the work. It's laziness. Don't do away with a system which has existed for 800 years and it's successful."
The move has faced backlash, including criticism from the Criminal Bar Association.
Riel Karmy-Jones KC, Chair of the Criminal Bar Association, said: “Let’s be clear – despite the government’s climb down from five back to three years, the proposal as announced today, brings a wrecking ball to a system that is fundamentally sound and has been in place for generations.
"Juries work – they do their job superbly, and without bias. Juries have not caused the backlog."