David Lammy has been accused of “not trusting ordinary Britons” after a Labour Minister made a shock jury admission in the House of Commons.
Back in December, the Justice Secretary announced jury trials across England and Wales for crimes with a likely sentence of less than three years would be ditched in a bid to create “swift courts” to combat the unprecedented delays across British courts.
But, addressing MPs today, Justice Minister Sarah Sackman openly declared Labour would plough on with their plan to scrap jury trials even if that court backlog did not exist.
“People ask me, ‘Sarah, would you be doing this if there wasn’t a crisis in our courts? And I say yes,” she said.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick took aim at his Labour counterpart over the shocking statement, arguing Labour’s move is “ideological, not practical”.
He fumed: “Labour just said the quiet part out loud. David Lammy’s plan to slash jury trials is ideological, not practical.
“Like Blair before them, they don’t like jury trials. They just don’t trust ordinary people.”
The scathing verdict comes just as Sir Keir Starmer is set to endure a backbench rebellion over the controversial effort to bin certain jury trials.
Today, the Conservatives are forcing a vote in the Commons over the proposals, dubbing it an “outright attack on the rule of law and the right to fair judicial process”.
Mr Lammy has come under fire after a Labour Minister made a shock statement
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PARLIAMENT/PA
Even Labour’s own MPs are sounding the alarm over the move, with Karl Turner confirming he will vote down the motion.
Despite facing the threat of having the whip removed, he told PoliticsHome: “One must stand for what is right, and I am convinced that this is wrong.”
Mr Lammy’s current plans will see defendants lose the right to elect to face a jury trial when charged with an “either way” offence, which generally carries shorter sentences.
A panel of magistrates will hear cases that carry a “likely sentence of up to two years” behind bars, or simply one judge in a new Crown Court bench division if the offence carries a three-year-long stay.
Mr Jenrick accused David Lammy of ‘not trusting ordinary Britons’
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Due to the limit placed on offences, more serious cases, including rape and murder, will still be heard by a jury.
The plans reveal a stark U-turn from Mr Lammy’s previous judgement, with the Deputy Prime Minister writing “criminal trials without juries are a bad idea” five years ago.
Now, he has said the change is “desperately needed” while the crown court backlog is estimated to reach 100,000 by 2028.
Conservative Shadow Justice Minister Kieran Mullan fumed: “Calamity Lammy is taking a wrecking ball to our justice system in a vain attempt to make up for Labour’s disastrous mismanagement.
“Curtailing jury trials is an outright attack on the rule of law and the right to fair judicial process.
“Labour are trying to water down a core principle that has existed for more than 800 years – one that even David Lammy himself has previously called ‘fundamental’.
“The Conservatives will always stand against such a naked assault on our democratic system, and defend this most critical of civil liberties against those who seek to weaken it.
“Labour MPs should show some backbone and stand with us.”