Norris scraps jury trial limits

Justice secretary Alex Norris has abandoned plans to restrict jury trials after hearing opposition from MPs and legal professionals concerned about fairness and curtailed rights.

The original plan under Starmer

The proposals, introduced under Sir Keir Starmer's leadership, aimed to tackle the court backlog by allowing only some fraud and financial offences to be heard by a judge alone without a jury.

Lammy's wider restrictions

Former justice secretary David Lammy had wanted to reserve jury trials for indictable-only offences such as murder and rape, and either-way offences with sentences likely exceeding three years.

The backlog numbers

Ministry of Justice figures showed eighty thousand eight hundred twenty-nine cases still to be dealt with at the end of June, with the backlog almost doubling since two thousand twenty.

Norris refuses to promise targets

When asked to commit to a target for reducing the backlog, Norris said he would not make bombastic promises, but would publish an impact assessment showing the trajectory of change.

“I wouldn't go as far as that… because the public are tired of hearing bombastic promises that then aren't kept.”

Cases will rise until legislation passes

Norris admitted the backlog will continue to rise until new legislation is passed through Parliament, but said significant falls will follow over the next decade once the laws take effect.

“So cases will continue to rise until we have the legislation.”

New restrictions on either-way offences

The Ministry of Justice announced that criminals accused of relatively minor crimes will lose the right to choose a Crown Court jury trial, with courts having final say on where either-way offences are sent.

Barrister Karl Turner welcomes decision

Barrister Karl Turner, MP for East Hull, whose Labour whip was suspended after criticising the plan, welcomed the U-turn and thanked the Prime Minister for his support during his campaign.

Law Society warns of magistrates strain

Mark Evans, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, said putting more cases into magistrates' courts without increasing capacity risks serious cases facing summary justice and strains an already overburdened system.