More than 3,200 legal experts, including leading lawyers and former judges, have signed an open letter urging the government to reconsider its controversial plan to scrap jury trials for certain crimes. The letter, addressed to Justice Secretary David Lammy and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer ahead of a Commons debate, calls for the proposal to remove the right to a jury trial for offences likely to receive a sentence of less than three years to be halted.
The signatories include 300 King’s Counsel, 2,000 barristers, and 22 retired judges. They warn that the government is “attempting to force through an unpopular, untested and poorly evidenced change to our jury system” that will not address the soaring court backlog, which has left victims waiting up to four years for justice. Dozens of rebel Labour MPs are reportedly ready to vote against the government unless the reforms are watered down.
Kirsty Brimelow KC, chair of the Bar Council, said it was not too late for the government to listen to the “unequivocal” opposition from the legal sector and “stop before bulldozing our jury system”. The government introduced legislation last month to overhaul the courts system and reduce the backlog of nearly 80,000 crown court cases by replacing juries with judge-only trials for some crimes. The Ministry of Justice has warned the backlog could reach 200,000 by 2035.
The reforms follow two reports by Sir Brian Leveson, but the government’s plans go further than his recommendations, which suggested less serious cases be heard by a judge and two magistrates. Critics describe the move as an “erosion of a deeply entrenched constitutional principle for negligible gain”. Research by the Institute for Government suggests judge-only trials would save less than two per cent of court time.
The open letter states that decades of underfunding have caused the backlog, not juries, and calls for investment in court efficiency. Signatories include David Calvert-Smith, former director of public prosecutions, barrister Rob Rinder, and Shaun Wallace from ITV’s The Chase. The letter concludes: “Justice should be viewed as a vital public service that deserves investment, just like education and health.”
