By Ben Kerrigan-
The Prime Minister directed his press representatives to communicate Downing Street’s insistence that the government will go ahead with the plans. Starmer’s official spokesperson.
British prime minister, Keir Starmer, has expressed defiance against a revolt by Labour mps against proposals by his justice secretary to scrap juries from certain trial said: “Jury trials will remain fundamental to our justice system. They will always be in place for the most serious offences, but fundamental reform is needed to stop victims waiting years for justice.”
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It follows a written letter from dozens of Labour Mps, expressing their readiness to vote against David Lammy’s plans to restrict jury trials.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, the 39 MPs – led by Karl Turner, a former barrister – urged Sir Keir to “think again” and come back with a “more credible proposal”. The revolt is a blow to the credibility of the proposals, described as ‘mad’ by the Mps.
They said the plan to restrict jury trials was an “ineffective” way to deal with the backlog of almost 80,000 cases and would have “an incredibly limited impact while also depriving individuals of a fundamental right to trial by their peers”.
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They wrote: “When this is put to the House as primary legislation, there is a growing number of our colleagues who are not prepared to support these proposals.”
The group includes Diane Abbott, the former shadow home secretary, Vicky Foxcroft, former whip and a leading member of the Tribune group of Labour MPs, and Dan Carden, who leads the Blue Labour group of backbenchers.
They said: “The drastic restriction of the right to trial by jury is not a silver bullet. To limit a fundamental right for what will make a marginal difference to the backlog, if any, is madness and will cause more problems than it solves.”
The Justice Secretary has been under fire ever since he announced the reforms to both Magistrate and jury trials. Under Lammy’s proposals, magistrates’ powers to handle cases which carry a maximum sentence of 12 months, possibly up to 18 months or two years.
The MPs said: “It is our belief that the public will not stand for the erosion of a fundamental right, particularly given that there are numerous other things the Government could do to more effectively reduce the backlog.
“This problem was not caused by jurors, nor will it be fixed by their eradication from public duty. Every day during the Second World War, juries continued to sit, reverting from 12 to 7 jurors. We are not at war!
“We Labour MPs are asking you to pause this proposal until proven evidence can be provided that this proposal will substantially reduce the backlog in the crown courts.”
Mr Turner said: “This is not the usual suspects. There are people on that letter who have never voted against the party in the entire time they have been [in Parliament]. I have never voted against the Labour whip in 15 years I have been here.
“I will do on this, because this will not work. It is simply unworkable, and I am afraid the Government are going to have to realise that and change their tune.”
The extremity of the decision to vote against the party by individuals who have never done this before, reflects badly on the Labour party. It exposes an incoherence in the party’s policies which can easily be exploited by their political rivals.
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