Thursday, January 29, 2026
Starmer doubles down on abolishing jury trials
The paper says that the prime minister, who is on a visit to China, said tackling a backlog that was forcing victims of violence against women and girls to lose faith and leave the justice system was a personal “fundamental argument of principle”, and suggested he would resist intense pressure from legal experts, rival MPs and members of his own ranks to row back on plans to limit jury trials:
Campaigners – including dozens of Labour MPs and peers from across the upper chamber – insist the reforms undermine a fundamental principle of the justice system and will not work. A report from the Institute for Government (IFG) last week said plans to introduce judge-only criminal trials in England and Wales would save less than 2% of time in crown courts.
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While some sources have suggested the plans – proposed by Brian Leveson – could be watered down after a backlash, David Lammy, the justice secretary, is understood to be pushing ahead with them in their current form.
The plans include proposals for a new criminal court where judges will hear cases on their own, magistrates-only hearings for offences that carry a maximum sentence of two years or less, and judge-only trials for complex fraud cases. Leveson’s review recommended a single judge sitting with two people in a new “bench division” of the crown court, but Lammy scrapped the lay element.
The government said it had done its own impact assessment of the changes but would not publish it until the bill containing the proposals was ready. Starmer stressed that 90% of criminal cases were already heard in the magistrates court without a jury, and of the 10% that went to crown court, 7% pleaded guilty.
Starmer's intransigience on this underlines the anti-democratic nature of his government. There clearly is a problem with processing cases involving violence against women and girls through the system, but that should be tackled with increased investment not removing fundamental rights.
