More than 3,200 lawyers, including 300 senior barristers, have written to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urging him to rethink plans to reduce jury trials in England and Wales, branding the proposals “unpopular, untested and poorly evidenced”. The letter, organised by the Bar Council, comes as the government faces a significant backbench rebellion over the issue.
The justice secretary, David Lammy, failed to convince Labour backbencher Karl Turner, who had previously coordinated a letter from 38 Labour MPs opposing the plans. Turner said he had “absolutely not” been won over after a meeting on Monday night. More than 65 Labour MPs are thought to be considering voting against the bill, though many may abstain initially.
The Conservatives are expected to force a vote to block the bill’s second reading in Parliament on Tuesday. Courts minister Sarah Sackman could not confirm whether rebel Labour MPs would lose the whip, stating on Times Radio: “Nothing difficult or worth doing was ever easy… some of those voices will be helping us to scrutinise and improve the bill.”
Shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy accused the government of “an unacceptable attack on an ancient right”, arguing that juries provide a safeguard between the citizen and the state. Lammy countered that the crown court backlog has nearly doubled from 38,000 cases in 2019 to almost 80,000, warning that blocking the bill would allow offenders to walk free.
The letter, signed by a former director of public prosecutions, Sir David Calvert-Smith, stated that juries had not “caused this crisis” and cited the Leveson review, which identified chronic underfunding as the main cause. Jo Hamilton, a former sub-postmaster wrongly convicted in the Horizon scandal, also wrote to Lammy expressing concern that the plans would “further erode trust in the establishment”.
