Justice Secretary David Lammy ‘will supply model new household automotive and a fortnight in Marbella’ to appease disgruntled MPs over jury reforms, quips backbencher
David Lammy is ‘so desperate’ to avoid a backlash against his jury trial reforms he may offer MPs a ‘brand new family car and a fortnight in Marbella’, a rebel backbencher has joked.
Karl Turner, the Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull East, said the plan to slash the number of jury trials in England and Wales by half was ‘finished’.
Justice Secretary Mr Lammy was ‘so desperate to keep his job’, Mr Turner said, ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts offering disgruntled Labour MPs a brand new family car each and a fortnight in Marbella’.
Mr Turner told the Politico website’s ‘London Playbook‘ newsletter: ‘This plan is finished and if Lammy doesn’t stop digging he deserves to be kicked out of government.’
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the MP continued his attack upon his own party’s reforms, which were put forward last year in a bid to reduce the Crown court backlog of a record 80,000 cases.
Mr Turner wrote: ‘Keir Starmer needs to stop this now.
‘I am more convinced than ever that [Lammy’s] proposals to do away with (some) jury trials cannot work.’
Mr Turner also posted a photograph of himself with Tory MP David Davis at a parliamentary event opposing the ‘ludicrous’ jury trial plan, commenting: ‘When you are forced with the prospect of having to defeat your own government to save it from itself I cannot think of a better campaign partner.’
Labour MP Karl Turner has delivered a tongue-in-cheek assessment of the depths to which Justice Secretary David Lammy may have to sink in order to secure backbench support for controversial jury trial reforms
It emerged earlier this week that the Government may make a partial U-turn on the plans in a bid to avoid a full-blown rebellion by its own backbenchers.
Ministers may pledge to review the jury reforms once the backlog had been reduced, rather than introducing irreversible changes, Sky News’ Politics at Sam and Anne’s podcast reported.
Justice Secretary David Lammy may have to offer labour MPs significant concessions to win support for his plans to cut the number of jury trials by half
Mr Lammy has said forthcoming legislation will allow cases currently heard by jury to be dealt with by a judge sitting alone in new ‘swift courts’, or by magistrates.
Earlier this month a minister admitted she would scrap jury trials even without a Crown court backlog.
Justice minister Sarah Sackman said during a Commons debate: ‘People ask me, Sarah, would you be doing this if there wasn’t a crisis in our courts?
‘I say yes, because we need a better system where courts, not criminals, triage cases, one that makes better use of jurors’ time.’
Her remarks led criminal barristers to launch their most vicious assault on the proposals so far, claiming Labour was ‘simply going to take an axe to the criminal justice system’ with no evidence the scheme will work.
Labour MP Mr Turner, a former barrister, voted against the Government in a Conservative opposition debate in the Commons calling for the jury changes to be rejected.
He was the only Labour MP to vote against the Government and has said he will oppose the measures ‘every step of the way’.
Addressing the prospect of the reforms being watered down, a Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ‘This kind of speculation does nothing to address the unacceptable delays for victims in our criminal justice system.
‘We are pressing ahead with our plans to reform the system based on Sir Brian Leveson’s independent review, alongside modernising it for the 21st century and record investment.
‘These are changes for the long-term.
‘Criminal cases today are vastly more complex, while smartphones and digital forensics mean jury trials now take twice as long as they did in 2000.’
The Government has said it will drop jury trials for offences with a likely prison sentence of three years or less. It has yet to bring legislation forward.
