By David Young-
Justice secretary David Lammy(pictured) is under fire from Mps over his unpopular plans to curb jury trials in his bid to cut the Crown court backlog
When quizzed about his proposals during justice questions in the House of Commons yesterday morning, Lammy unimpressively said ”one-third of victims of sexual offences in the backlog have been waiting at least a year for a trial. In many of those cases, ‘there are also defendants playing the system, pleading late pre-hearing after pre-hearing, and witnesses then fall away and cases collapse.
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‘For that reason, it’s absolutely right that we change the threshold, introduce the measures that Sir Brian Leveson has properly looked at in order to speed up the process and get those victims justice’.
Lammy appeared to be outsmarted by Conservative’s David Davis MP, who told the justice secretary that ‘summary justice is no justice at all’ , reminding the Justice Secretary to examine professional analysis that indicated that the Leveson review was based on poor data.
Lammy supported the review, stating that the analysis was based on data and international evidence, adding: ‘and that’s why it is important we implement it because there is no silver bullet… otherwise at the next general election the backlog will have soared to over 100,000’.
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But the Justice Secretary was unable to rationally outargue Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, who said curtailing appeals would lead to miscarriages of justice, pointing out that 5,000 cases were appealed from magistrates’ courts last year – and 40% of those were upheld.
Defending the Magistrates system, presided over by lay judges who are advised by a legal assistant, Lammy retorted: ‘Either you believe in our magistrates or you don’t. I believe in our magistrates but what Sir Brian recommended was a permission stage and we accept his recommendation of creating a permission stage on appeal.
That is the right thing to do, particularly because there are many appeals that have no merits and that’s why victims fall away.’
Jenrick asked the justice secretary to ‘reflect over Christmas and make scrapping his plan to slash jury trials a New Year’s resolution we can all support’.
Lammy replied: ‘Let’s be clear, it is a permission stage that we are accepting, that was recommended by Sir Brian Leveson. What we need are more sitting days, more investment, and we’re doing that. We cannot shirk reform and he knows that jury trials will continue to be a cornerstone of the Crown court system and we need modernisation. All of that not done by the last government.’
Ever since the Justice Secretary announced his plans to scrap jury trials, his proposals have attracted fierce criticism from legal experts who have decried the move as ridiculous and against the interest of defendants. The tension over the issue will potentially further damage the reputation of the British Criminal Justice System on the line.
Already the British criminal justice system has been tarnished following embarrassing levels of consistent prison release errors of hardened criminals in the past year, with Lammy having egg on this face in these matters.
Whilst the Justice Secretary cannot be faulted for genuinely seeking a solution to the problem facing the courts, he comes on stuck when trying to justify removing a longstanding traditional and respected practise of the court system due to the vast failings of various successive governments .
Lammy’s take on jury matters is particularly disappointing, particularly as his credentials include being a barrister, a distinguished law graduate with a Masters of law (SOAS & Harvard Law respectively), a long-serving Labour MP for Tottenham, a former government Minister.
Lammy credentials in the legal system is also quite impressive. He has served in several departments, including Culture, Higher Education, Health (overseeing A&E wait times), and Constitutional Affairs. Shadow Foreign Secretary (2021-2024) and Shadow Justice Secretary (2020-2021).
He also led the independent review into BAME outcomes in the criminal justice system (2016-2017).
Championed the Windrush Generation’s fight for citizenship. Advocates for social justice, diversity, and tackling inequality.
Yet, despite warnings from experts that a jury scrapped system will likely be detrimental to ethnic minority defendants, the Justice Secretary remains stubbornly inflexible on his unwise and poorly informed proposals.
The Justice Secretary’s insight into the workings of the judicial system is highly questionable, as most experienced legal experts know that judges can be very biased against defendants, irrespective of their race, and cannot possibly provide a fair or effective substitute for a jury.
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