Prime Minister Keir Starmer is confronting significant political embarrassment after the legal chambers he helped establish launched a fierce attack on government plans to eliminate the majority of jury trials in England and Wales.
Legal Rebellion from Within
Doughty Street Chambers, where Sir Keir worked for more than 15 years before becoming Director of Public Prosecutions, has publicly condemned proposals that would allow judges to decide all but the most serious criminal cases. The prominent human rights set described the measures as 'wrong in principle' and asserted there is 'no evidence' that reducing jury trials would help tackle the massive Crown Court backlog.
The chambers, whose current roster includes high-profile barristers like Amal Clooney, released a statement declaring: 'Trial by jury is a deeply entrenched constitutional principle and anchors our liberal democracy... We are firmly opposed to the proposals to remove trial by jury for all but the most serious of crimes.'
Mounting Political Pressure
The intervention places additional pressure on Justice Secretary David Lammy, who is expected to tell MPs this week that victims are being denied justice without radical reforms to the system. Lammy will argue that thousands of victims are waiting years for justice due to the record backlog of almost 80,000 cases in Crown Courts.
The government's proposal goes significantly further than recommendations from retired senior judge Sir Brian Leveson, who suggested that offences carrying sentences of less than three years should not require juries. Instead, the Justice Secretary will propose that only offences likely to lead to prison terms exceeding five years - such as murder, rape, or terrorism - should automatically go before jurors.
Cross-Party Opposition Emerges
Conservative Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick told the Daily Mail: 'This is the latest embarrassment for the Prime Minister. The right to be tried by our peers has existed for more than 800 years - it is not to be casually discarded when the spreadsheets turn red.'
Opposition isn't limited to political rivals. Labour backbencher Karl Turner described the plan as 'utterly ridiculous' in a social media post directed at Mr Lammy, writing: 'Doing away with jury trials will make little difference to the backlog but it will make a world of difference to our democracy and our justice system.'
Even sitting judges have joined the criticism, with two judges at Isleworth Crown Court recently making pointed comments to jurors about the importance of the jury trial system.
Doughty Street Chambers attributed the justice system's problems to 'chronic underfunding over a number of years' rather than the jury trial process, positioning the debate as one about fundamental rights versus administrative convenience.
