According to a report by The Express, Keir Starmer is planning a shocking change for Britain: the Labour government may abolish the right to jury trials for certain offences. This right has been a cornerstone of the British justice system for nearly a thousand years.
The reason behind this proposal? The courts are in disarray, and the government is seeking quick fixes to address a massive backlog of cases, now standing at 75,000—double the pre-Covid figure.
The backlog grew because of the lockdowns, and trials are now delayed by years. While speeding up the process is necessary, taking away jury trials isn’t the answer. Jury trials are the best way to ensure fair justice. Removing this right would harm defendants, whether innocent or guilty, as they’d be forced into quicker but less thorough trials in magistrates’ courts, which don’t use juries.
Magistrates can already sentence people to up to 12 months in prison, and this proposal could lead to even more offences losing the right to a jury trial. History shows that once rights are taken away, they rarely return.
If fixing the problem means spending more public money, then it’s worth it. This could mean cutting spending in other areas, like reducing overseas aid or limiting pay raises for public-sector workers, to properly fund the court system.
Britain’s justice system is too important to rely on shortcuts like this. Removing jury trials would be a serious mistake and a sad day for justice in the UK.
