Threat to trial by jury
March 2026
MPs voted to allow the Courts and Tribunals Bill to proceed to the next stage after significant debate during its second reading. This was over proposals to replace juries in England and Wales with a single judge in cases where a convicted defendant would be jailed for up to three years. Justice Secretary David Lammy says changes to jury trials and other reforms can help turn around the Crown Court backlog, which has reached record levels of 80,000 cases. These delays mean some defendants charged today may not face trial until 2030.
However more than 3,200 lawyers including 300 top barristers and retired judges have called on the government to drop the plan to abolish some jury trials. The letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions, says there is no evidence the “unpopular” plan will solve unprecedented delays in criminal courts. The letter organised by the Bar Council, which represents all barristers in England and Wales, says the plan is an attempt “to force through an unpopular, untested and poorly evidenced change to our jury system”.
The bill will still have to clear the House of Lords before it can become law. The right to jury trial – in which ordinary people decide on the guilt or innocence of defendants brought before Crown Courts – is a cornerstone of the constitution dating back more than 800 years.
Magna Carta did not specifically mention jury trials but does say ‘no free man shall be seized or imprisoned except through the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land’ (women are not mentioned). It did however plant the seed of juries and over time the idea became established in British law. The Statute of Westminster was passed in 1275 that required jury trials in certain cases, showing how these ideas from the Magna Carta were evolving into legal practice.
Recent governments have revealed a dislike of protest and have done a lot to introduce measures and restrictions making such protests more and more difficult. Police powers have been increased and thousands were arrested protesting on behalf of Palestine Action for example. Some juries have gone against judicial directions and have freed defendants. There must be a worry therefore that restricting the right to a jury trial leaves defendants at the mercy of judges alone who, some argue, can be reactionary,
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 
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