Court backlogs will still fall despite jury trials U-turn, Alex Norris says

Court backlogs will start falling in this Parliament, the Justice Secretary has said, despite having scrapped the controversial plan to curb jury trials.

Alex Norris said introducing legislation for judge only trials would have been “complicated to implement”, slowing down the “whole package” of reforms.

The decision is a U-turn on proposals introduced under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership in a bid to tackle the court backlog.

Former justice secretary David Lammy, who championed the move, had told MPs the reforms were “desperately needed” to prevent victims facing “agonising delays”.

Mr Norris insisted the backlog will still fall without cutting jury trials – but would not say by how much.

He told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: “The element that we’ve removed, the Crown Court Bench Division, the so-called judge-only trials, that was always going to be the most complicated to implement, and would hold the whole package up.

“The backlogs will start falling in this Parliament, and I’ll be publishing alongside what I publish to Parliament are assessments going forwards that mean that over the next decade that backlog falls significantly as a result of the changes we’re making.

The Government has been warned that pushing thousands of more cases on the already overstretched magistrates’ courts amounts to “restricting juries by the back door”.

The the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) warned the proposals will shift 25,000 cases a year, including 5,500 jury trials, on magistrates.

The cases will include complex assaults, sexual assaults and child abuse which volunteer magistrates are “completely unequipped to try”, the CBA said.

Magistrates courts do not have juries, with cases heard by a panel of three trained volunteers or a single paid professional district judge.

MP Karl Turner welcomed the decision to scrap the proposal (Annabel Lee-Ellis/PA)

PA Wire

The backlog of open court case in the magistrates’ courts has surged by 16% annually—and up to 40% in some regions, meaning they do not have the resources to take on thousands of more sensitive cases, according to the CBA.

Shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy described the proposals as “restricting juries by the back door, scrapping the right to elect one and dumping those cases on magistrates whose backlog is at a record high.”

Mr Norris said he decided to “change course” after hearing the “strength of feeling on the proposals”.

Barrister Karl Turner, who had the Labour whip suspended after he criticised the plan, welcomed the decision and thanked the Prime Minister “for his support during my campaign”.

Mr Turner, MP for East Hull, told the Press Association he had “engaged directly with the Justice Secretary” about the issue in recent weeks.

MoJ figures showed there were 80,829 cases still to be dealt with at the end of June, with the backlog almost doubling since 2020.

Claire Waxman, victims’ commissioner for England and Wales, said victims “are being asked to place their faith in a plan that ministers themselves previously argued would not be (enough)”.

Liberal Democrat justice spokeswoman Jess Brown-Fuller said the proposal “should never have been introduced in the first place” while Green MP Sian Berry said the U-turn is “a victory for justice and fairness”.