Court backlogs will still fall despite jury-trial U-turn, Justice Secretary says

The government has scrapped plans to increase judge-only trials in the Crown Court in England and Wales, a U-turn on proposals introduced under Sir Keir Starmer to tackle the courts backlog.

Under the revised plans, only some fraud and financial offences will be heard by a judge alone, without a jury.

Justice Secretary Alex Norris told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that the abandoned Crown Court Bench Division was “always going to be the most complicated to implement, and would hold the whole package up”. He pledged that “the backlogs will start falling in this Parliament” — but would not say by how much.

Mr Norris added that impact assessments for the Courts and Tribunals Bill would show the backlog falling “significantly” over the next decade.

Ministry of Justice figures showed 80,829 cases were waiting to be dealt with at the end of June, with the backlog nearly doubling since 2020.

The Criminal Bar Association warned the fallback shifts 25,000 cases a year, including 5,500 jury trials, onto magistrates’ courts — with complex assaults, sexual assaults and child abuse cases tried by volunteer magistrates it called “completely unequipped to try” them.

Karl Turner, the barrister MP who had the Labour whip suspended after criticising the plan, welcomed the decision and thanked Prime Minister Andy Burnham. But victims’ commissioner Claire Waxman said victims were being asked to have faith in a plan ministers themselves had previously argued would not be enough.

(Sources: Press Association via Leigh Journal, Hits Radio and Island FM/Sky News)