Labour MP Karl Turner, a prominent critic of Government’s jury trial reforms, has whip suspended
The MP for Kingston upon Hull East insists he is yet to be informed of his removal from the party
An outspoken Labour MP and ardent critic of the Government’s jury trial reforms has had the whip suspended, LBC understands.
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Karl Turner, a barrister, has been a thorn in the Government’s side over the proposed plans to reserve jury trials for only the most serious of cases.
Mr Turner, the Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull East, has rebelled against the party's decision to abolish the presence of jury trials for all but the most serious cases in recent months.
His suspension is said to come as a result of his 'recent conduct' - as the MP insisted he has not been formally notified of his removal from the Labour parliamentary party.
Just 24 hours earlier, the Labour MP told LBC that he was "'more Labour than anybody else I can think of in the Labour Party".
"There's no way I wouldn't go to reform for all the tea in China. I'm a Labour Party man. I was born in a Labour family. My parents were trade Unionists," he insisted.
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I am being told that I have had the whip suspended but I have not had any notification from the whips about this. It seems journalists have been told but I have not.
— Karl Turner MP (@KarlTurnerMP) March 31, 2026
"If I'm unfortunate enough to get up during the night to go for a wee, I remind myself how much I hate the Tories. If Farage comes into the equation, I hate the Reform more than I've ever hated the Tories," he continued.
"I'm Labour Party born and bred. I'll die Labour Party. But what I will do is, is speak the truth to the power," he added, telling the government it has "got to stop messing around" with policies that were "never mentioned in the manifesto".
The MP was the only Labour MP to vote against the Government's proposed changes to UK jury trials earlier this year.
Taking to X on Tuesday, he insisted: “I am being told that I have had the whip suspended but I have not had any notification from the whips about this.
"It seems journalists have been told but I have not," he added in the social media post..
The decision will be reviewed at a later date, it's been confirmed.
Speaking with LBC, he said: "Jury trials is my example. Why are we curtailing jury trials? The public don't want it. It's unworkable, it's unnecessary, it's unpopular.
"Stop doing the daft things, get on with the policy that we're committed to in the manifesto and govern for the country," he continued.
"Stop messing around is my message to the pm and I make that message to him every time I get the chance."
As well as leading Labour resistance on the jury trial issue, Mr Turner questioned the circumstances around the theft of the Prime Minister’s former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney’s mobile phone and with it potentially messages to Lord Peter Mandelson.
He called the former aide to Sir Keir Starmer “McSwindle”.