Plans to slash jury trial will see cases already in backlog diverted to new ‘swift courts’, minister confirms

Ministers have indicated for the first time that Labour’s reforms, which abolish the right to a jury trial, will apply to cases currently backlogged in the courts.

Defendants who have already opted for a jury trial at the Crown court will see their cases reconsidered after the new law is passed, MPs heard.

Defendants may then be reassigned to a hearing where a judge sits alone, in what the Government calls a ‘fast-track court’.

Justice Secretary David Lammy gave a firm ‘no’ when asked by the House of Commons justice select committee last month whether the changes would apply retrospectively.

But justice secretary Sarah Sackman was accused of giving a ‘fundamentally different’ response when she submitted evidence to the same committee on jury reform on Tuesday.

Conservative MP Sir Ashley Fox said the new bill to implement the changes may not be in force until 2028.

Committee member Sir Ashley Fox MP said the minister’s response was ‘fundamentally different to what the President said a few weeks ago’.

Ms Sackman replied: ‘It will be important that the changes apply to cases where hearings have not yet started in the Crown court but may already be within the system.

‘And this means that the implementation of these measures will come into force sooner than your question suggests.’

Sir Ashley said: ‘So it’s a case that should have been heard in the Crown court, are you going to re-look at these cases and send some of them to the fast track court?’

The Minister replied: ‘I think that’s something we need to look at.’

Sir Ashley continued: ‘I think this is fundamentally different from what the Lord Chancellor said a few weeks ago.’

The Minister replied: ‘Yes, that is the case because that is the mechanism to follow up on what is needed, which is the urgent implementation of these changes.’

Sir Ashley, the Conservative MP for Bridgwater, said ‘most people will regard this as a retroactive change’.

He added that the government’s proposals were a ‘dramatic change’ to the ‘old constitutional right’ to a jury trial.

Ms Sackman also told the committee: ‘Doing nothing is not an option; But it’s about turning crisis into opportunity.’

Mr Lammy, who is also Lord Chancellor, announced the plans late last year as the number of crown court cases reached almost 80,000 in England and Wales.

It is envisaged that jury trials for crimes punishable by less than three years will be abolished, and instead trials will be heard by magistrates or new ‘speedy’ courts.

Responding to the committee hearing, Shadow Home Secretary Robert Jenrick said: ‘David Lammy has once again shown ignorance of his own proposals.

It is now clear that he blatantly misled the public and that his plan to reduce jury trials was far more harmful than originally thought.

‘These proposals are doomed to failure.

‘Lammy will not succeed because his plans destroy a fundamental freedom and do next to nothing to reduce the court’s backlog.

‘Another U-turn from this chaotic Labor Government is inevitable.’