Keir Starmer faces Labour revolt as Tories power vote TODAY on scrapping jury trials for swathe of instances

Sir Keir Starmer is facing a Labour revolt today over his plans to scrap jury trials for many cases.

The Tories will force a vote in the House of Commons over the proposals announced by Justice Secretary David Lammy last year.

Mr Lammy, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, wants to set up so-called ‘swift courts’ in England and Wales, where cases will be heard by a judge alone.

He has argued the action is necessary to slash the Crown Court backlog, which has nearly hit 80,000 cases. 

But the Tories have said the plans represent an ‘outright attack on the rule of law and the right to fair judicial process’.

They will use an opposition day debate in Parliament on Wednesday to force a vote on a motion criticising the proposals.

Labour MP Karl Turner, a leading critic of the Government’s move to scrap jury trials, has confirmed he will rebel against his party in order to vote for the Tory motion.

Despite the risk of being stripped of the Labour whip by voting with the opposition, Mr Turner said ‘one must stand for what is right, and I am convinced that this wrong’.

Justice Secretary David Lammy, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, wants to set up so-called ‘swift courts’ in England and Wales, where cases will be heard by a judge alone

Labour MP Karl Turner, a leading critic of the Government’s move to scrap jury trials, has confirmed he will rebel against his party in order to vote for the Tory motion 

Mr Turner, the MP for Kingston upon Hull East and a former barrister, told PoliticsHome the Tory motion was ‘perfectly reasonable’.

It is not yet known whether any other Labour critics of Mr Lammy’s plans will also vote with the Conservatives on Wednesday.

Mr Turner has argued the primary cause of the crown court backlog is the restriction on the number of court sitting days, and that scrapping jury trials is an ineffective way of dealing with the issue.

‘There are many ways to incentivise defendants to plead to offences, but to remove the right to a trial by jury by those accused of criminality is unjust, unworkable and unpopular,’ he added.

‘It is a dereliction of duty for the Justice Secretary to preside over a situation where 20 per cent of courts are not sitting without taking proper action to address this or the multitude of other reasons that delay justice.

‘The Prime Minister should intervene and stop this disastrous policy proposal before marching Labour MPs up hills only to U-turn when the penny drops that we will not put up with this.’

Under Mr Lammy’s plans, defendants will lose the right to choose a jury trial in a crown court if they are charged with ‘either way’ offences which, if they are convicted, carry short prison sentences. 

Instead, cases will be overseen by a panel of newly empowered magistrates if there is a ‘likely’ sentence of up to two years in jail – or a sole judge in a new crown court bench division if they would face a three-year term.

Judges will also sit alone in complex fraud trials, which require specialist knowledge and expertise to unpick.

Only crimes carrying a punishment of more than three years will be put to a jury in a crown court.

It means that while rape cases will be heard by a jury, some offences including sexual assaults, stalking and sharing indecent images may not.

Five years ago, Mr Lammy wrote that ‘criminal trials without juries are a bad idea’.

But he told MPs last month that his reforms are now ‘desperately needed’ as victims face ‘agonising delays’ in the system, with the crown court backlog projected to reach 100,000 by 2028.

Tory shadow justice minister Kieran Mullan said: ‘Calamity Lammy is taking a wrecking ball to our justice system in a vain attempt to make up for Labour’s disastrous mismanagement.

‘Curtailing jury trials is an outright attack on the rule of law and the right to fair judicial process.

‘Labour are trying to water down a core principle that has existed for more than 800 years – one that even David Lammy himself has previously called ‘fundamental’.

‘The Conservatives will always stand against such a naked assault on our democratic system, and defend this most critical of civil liberties against those who seek to weaken it.

‘Labour MPs should show some backbone and stand with us.’