Burnham Signals Retreat on Curbing Jury Trials
Andy Burnham has signalled that his government will drop inherited plans to restrict the right to a jury trial, in an early reversal of his predecessor’s justice agenda. The proposals, intended to ease the vast backlog in the courts by trying more cases before a judge alone, had alarmed lawyers and civil-liberties campaigners. The Prime Minister indicated he favoured a different approach.
Trial by jury is one of the oldest features of the English legal system, and moves to curtail it have long provoked fierce resistance. The previous government had leaned towards restricting jury trials for some offences as a pragmatic response to a record crown-court backlog that has left victims and defendants waiting years. Mr Burnham’s apparent change of course pleases the legal profession but leaves unanswered how he intends to clear the logjam. It fits a pattern of the new Prime Minister distancing himself from his inheritance. Watch for how ministers now propose to tackle the courts crisis.