Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst MP has challenged the Lord Chancellor over reports that the Government is considering further restrictions to trial by jury.
Speaking in the House of Commons on 15 September, Dr Shastri-Hurst asked:
“Reports suggest the Government is considering tabling an amendment to the Courts and Tribunals Bill whereby, in either-way offences, a judge will decide whether a defendant faces a jury or is tried by a judge alone.
“The legal profession has quite properly highlighted that this will lead to satellite litigation and legal appeals, and therefore slow down the legal process.
“Will the Government start listening to the legal profession or plough on regardless?”
The Lord Chancellor did not directly answer the question or rule out the reported proposal.
Dr Shastri-Hurst said the response leaves serious questions over whether the Government intends to further dilute trial by jury, while providing MPs with little clarity about its intentions before the Courts and Tribunals Bill returns to Parliament on 13 October.
He said afterwards:
“Trial by jury is a fundamental part of our justice system, not a plaything. The Government should set out their intentions clearly so that Parliament, the legal profession, and the public, can properly scrutinise them.”
