The proposal to scrap jury trials is “a cure worse than the disease”, according to the founding head of the Chambers where Sir Keir Starmer once practised. ​David Lammy’s controversial Courts and Tribunals Bill aims to reduce Crown Court backlogs by approximately halving the number of jury trials. ​The Bill, if passed, will create a new tier of the Crown Court, known as the ‘Bench Division’, to hear triable either-way cases likely to result in a custodial sentence of three years or less, heard by a judge alone. The backlog facing the criminal justice system is enormous, with nearly 80,000 criminal cases awaiting hearings at the Crown Court and over 360,000 in the Magistrates’ Court.

Lammy’s proposal comes after Sir Brian Leveson’s review of the criminal justice system, which included the controversial decision to remove juries from serious and complex fraud cases. The government have said that jury trials will be reserved only for the most serious, indictable-only offences, such as murder, rape, manslaughter, and serious grievous bodily harm (GBH). Scrapping jury faces criticism from legal sector ​However, these government proposals have drawn criticism, with some arguing they constitute a “betrayal” of fundamental freedoms.

Geoffrey Robertson KC, founding head of Doughty Street Chambers, where the Starmer once served as a member and later as joint head, argued that the government has disregarded the constitutional importance of trial by jury. Robertson KC previously joked that, after three of his members became government ministers, “Doughty Street has become Labour’s equivalent of Eton for the Tory Cabinet”. “Labour is taking an axe to a piece of English heritage, one part of a criminal justice system which, unlike the others, is actually trusted by most people,” he stated.

The senior barrister also pointed out that under this new Bill, Clive Ponting could not have been tried by a jury because his Official Secrets Act prosecution had a maximum of two years imprisonment. He explained that this would mean that Peter Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, if they were ever to be prosecuted, would lose their right to a jury trial. The Courts and Tribunals Bill is at its committee stage this week.