Trial by Jury: Proposed Restrictions

Emily Thornberry Excerpts

Wednesday 9th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Sackman]

I agree with the hon. Gentleman that we all owe a debt of gratitude to Sir Brian Leveson and his team for the comprehensive review that they have undertaken, to which the Government will be giving due consideration over the summer, before we formally provide our response. We have to ensure that whatever package of proposals we take forward knits together with the recommendations from the Gauke review and the outcome of the spending review that the Ministry of Justice has received, with a commitment to make an additional investment of £450 million in our courts. I want to address his point about intermediate courts: they are not about saving money, but about addressing the backlog, delivering swifter justice for victims and having a criminal justice system in which the public can have confidence. If this package of ideas is right and will achieve that aim, we will pursue it.

[Emily Thornberry (Islington South and Finsbury) (Lab)]

I spent the first 20 years of my professional life in the criminal courts as a barrister. There is no one who loves the criminal justice system, or who has more respect for juries, than I do. However, the courts now are not what they were. The delays are so appalling that defendants just plead “not guilty”, because they know that their case will not come up for years, and the chances of actually facing justice are minimal. It is in that extreme state, which we have inherited from the Conservative Government, that radical action is needed. I know that my hon. Friends on the Government Front Bench feel as I do about the criminal justice system and want it to work, so when they are looking at Sir Brian’s recommendations, will they consider a sunset clause? If his recommendations work, there will come a time when we can increase the amount of jury service again.

[Sarah Sackman]

My right hon. Friend speaks with huge authority and personal experience of how our Crown courts operate. Like us, she is committed to restoring and rebuilding our criminal justice system to what it once was, and to a system fit for the 21st century that the public can have confidence in. That means adapting our methods, taking on new technologies and becoming more efficient. All of that will come in the second part of Sir Brian’s review, as we have asked him to do. I will not pre-empty the response or give a running commentary on it, but all those things will be taken into account as we consider our response over the summer.