Labour lawyers ‘blocked’ from briefing MPs on jury trials overhaul before vote

Lawyers affiliated to Labour were “blocked” from briefing party MPs to share concerns about plans to cut the number of jury trials in England and Wales, it has been claimed. The allegation was made by Karl Turner, the leader of a backbench rebellion against a flagship government bill that would remove the right to a jury trial in thousands of cases, before the first chance by MPs to vote on the legislation.As many as 65 Labour MPs are understood to have been considering voting against the courts and tribunals bill before Monday’s second reading.David Lammy, the justice secretary, announced the plans last December that will take thousands of trials away from the jury system, to be heard instead by judges and magistrates. But the government has been facing discontent from its own ranks, including from 38 MPs who signed a letter urging the prime minister to reverse the plans.Turner, the MP for Hull East who coordinated the letter, said the policies were the subject of deep concern within the Society of Labour Lawyers (SLL), one of the party’s oldest affiliates, and were discussed at the body’s executive committee last Friday.“The policy position of the SLL is that these measures are a terrible mistake, are unworkable and must be stopped but they have been blocked from sharing that position with Labour MPs in a briefing of the sort which one would expect it to be able to make,” said Turner, who added that pressure had come from ministers.The SLL and a spokesperson for Lammy, who was due to meet Turner on Monday evening, have been approached for comment.While a major clash between the government and MPs on Tuesday may yet be averted, a significant number of Labour backbenchers could instead abstain or choose to vote against the bill at a later stage. Turner said he was hopeful of being able to strip out aspects of the bill he and others opposed when it came to its “report” stage in the House of Commons.The position of Angela Rayner, the former minister who remains a leadership contender, is among those that will be closely watched.Lobbying has meanwhile continued from those in favour of the measures – which are aimed at reducing a growing backlog of cases – including more than 30 female Labour MPs who wrote to Lammy urging him not to back down.“We know from our personal experiences the ways in which our justice system is failing women and girls across this country,” said the letter from 34 MPs, including the former ministers Ashley Dalton and Anneliese Dodds, who urged Lammy not to get blown off course as “too many women’s lives depend on it”.There was also a late intervention from the victims’ commissioner, Claire Waxman, who wrote to MPs on Monday warning that trial dates as late as 2030 were pushing the justice system to breaking point and urged them to consider the profound “human cost” of delays.She added: “Justice delayed is not an abstract principle – it is the compounding and prolonging of trauma. I have asked victims stuck in our court system; faced with waiting years for a jury trial, would they prefer to wait or accept a judge if it meant swift justice?”Those speaking out against the plans on Monday included Chris Moran, a barrister and legal commentator, who published an open letter to the prime minister in which he said he was resigning from Labour over the proposals, which he described as “unprincipled, counter-productive and shameful constitutional vandalism”.Many members of the public had no experience of the criminal justice system and so could be forgiven for having “no grasp of the enormity” of the proposals, he added.A spokesperson for the prime minister said on Monday: “The government inherited a court system on the brink of collapse, a backlog that was only growing and no plan to deliver faster and fairer justice for victims.“There is no choice. Only by using a combination of reform, investment and efficiency, can we hope to turn the tide on the backlog and deliver the faster and fairer justice the victims deserve.”