Prime Minister Andy Burnham scrapped the government's plan to curb jury trials after facing sustained opposition from criminal lawyers, magistrates and Conservative lawmakers.
Justice Secretary Alex Norris announced the reversal on Tuesday, saying he had heard "the strength of feeling" about proposals that would have allowed judges to decide cases alone when sentences would be less than three years. The original plan, introduced by former Justice Secretary David Lammy in December, would have reserved jury trials only for the most serious offences including murder and rape.
Under the scrapped proposals, less serious Crown Court cases would have been decided by judges alone, and even less serious offences would have remained in magistrates' courts. The government would have abolished defendants' right to request a jury trial in those lower-level cases. Lammy framed the reforms as necessary to address court backlogs that currently stand at nearly 81,000 cases and were projected to reach 100,000 before the next general election.
The Criminal Bar Association, which represents barristers, welcomed the reversal. Andrew Thomas KC, the association's chairman, said that "nothing inspires more public trust than 12 ordinary citizens from all walks of life deciding the facts of a case together." Thomas warned that a remaining element of the government's reform package, which would expand magistrates' powers and strip defendants of the right to elect Crown Court trials for middle-ranking cases, could still prove problematic. He said the change would shift 25,000 cases annually out of Crown Court, including 5,500 jury trials involving serious offences such as assaults, sexual assaults and child abuse. "Our volunteer magistrates do an excellent job but they are completely unequipped to try complex, multi-day trials," Thomas said.
Conservative Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy called the reversal "a major victory for everyone who fought to defend trial by jury." Norris said the government remains committed to reducing backlogs through record investment in judges and courts, and promised to pursue other structural reforms.