Wednesday, March 11, 2026
Lawyers call rethink on plans to cut jury trials
The paper says that the letter to Keir Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions, from 3,200 lawyers, including 300 senior barristers, comes as his government faces the prospect of one of its most serious backbench revolts since coming to power:
Efforts by David Lammy, the justice secretary, to change the mind of one of the leading Labour figures opposed to the plans, the backbencher Karl Turner, failed after the men met on Monday night.
Turner, who had previously coordinated a letter from 38 Labour MPs urging the prime minister to reverse the plans, said he had “absolutely not” been convinced.
The Conservatives are expected to force a vote to try to block the second reading in parliament on Tuesday. However, the true scale of the Labour rebellion may not yet be evident.
More than 65 Labour MPs are thought to be considering voting against the bill, but it is understood that many may abstain and instead vote against it at a later stage of the legislative process, such as report stage.
Sarah Sackman, the courts minister, could not confirm in interviews on Tuesday morning whether Labour MPs who rebel against the vote would lose the whip.
“Nothing difficult or worth doing was ever easy and I don’t shy away from that debate. And indeed, some of those voices will be helping us to scrutinise and improve the bill as it goes through parliament,” she told Times Radio.
Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, accused the government of mounting “an unacceptable attack on an ancient right”.
“Juries provide a safeguard between the citizen and the state. But Labour want to weaken it because Keir Starmer and David Lammy are putting what is politically expedient ahead of the hard yards of court reform,” he said.
It is quite clear that this outrageous proposal to remove juries from many court proceedings has no support amongst the legal profession and is losing support amongst Labour MPs as well.
If the government wants to reduce the backlog in the courts then they need to invest in them, not undermine the legaL system in this way.
