More than 3,200 lawyers have written to the prime minister urging him to “rethink” plans to restrict jury trials for all but the most serious cases.
The group, which includes 22 retired judges and more than 300 senior barristers, alongside solicitors, academics, and other legal professionals, have urged Sir Keir Starmer to halt what they say is an “erosion of a deeply entrenched constitutional principle for negligible gain”.
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“Instead of draining valuable time and resources attempting to force through an unpopular, untested and poorly evidenced change to our jury system – and one that will only have effect, if any, in 2028/2029 – we urge the government to focus on the changes we know will make a difference now,” the letter reads.
MPs are due to vote for the first time today on the Courts and Tribunals Bill, which will remove the right to a jury trial for Crown Court cases concerning crimes that carry sentences of up to three years.
Under the proposals, only the most serious cases, such as rape, murder and manslaughter, would be heard by a jury.
The plans have proved controversial, with one critical Labour MP – and fellow lawyer – telling Sky News in January he was “ashamed” of Sir Keir over the plans.
The government claims the proposals, alongside other investment they are making in the court system, will reduce the projected backlog by around 84,000 cases, to 49,000 cases by 2035.
But research by the independent Institute for Government thinktank suggests restricting juries would save less than 2% of court time.
The letter says the lawyers “fully support and share the government’s aim of bringing down the backlog in the criminal courts,” but the proposals “are based on little evidence”.
Female Labour MPs urge government to pass reforms
A group of 40 female Labour MPs, including former women and equalities minister Anneliese Dodds, have written to Justice Secretary David Lammy urging him to “remain steadfast” with the reforms.
They highlight “the agonising and rising waiting lists in our courts, which mean that a woman reporting domestic abuse or coercive control today may be told her trial won’t come to court until 2030”.
“That is intolerable,” they say.
The victims’ commissioner, Claire Waxman, has also written to MPs asking them to back the plans.
Sir Keir met with a group of victims on Monday to discuss the reforms, and told them that the government had “got to make good on our commitments” to speed up justice for victims, especially women.
Mr Lammy told Sky News on Friday he expects MPs to pass the bill.
He said that MPs of all parties “recognise that victims of crime are waiting too long for justice”.
Sky News chief political correspondent Jon Craig said Mr Lammy emerged from a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday in a “bullish mood”.
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Embattled David Lammy is increasingly confident of seeing off a damaging Commons rebellion on Tuesday on his controversial plans to scrap some jury trials.
The justice secretary emerged from a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party in a bullish mood following a potentially decisive intervention by women MPs.
“The women’s PLP is very powerful,” Lammy told Sky News with a smile after the mutinous mood of a few weeks ago among Labour MPs appeared to have subsided.
Some MPs leaving the meeting claimed it was significant that the shake-up’s most vocal critic, Karl Turner, did not attend the speech and Q&A with Lammy at the PLP.
As the meeting ended, Lammy was seen deep in conversation with chief whip Jonathan Reynolds and one government minister told Sky News: “We’ve got the numbers.”
The Conservatives say they will force a vote to “protect” the right to a jury trial, saying the reforms “risk weakening fundamental safeguards within our system”.
