Oral Answers to Questions

Jim Dickson Excerpts

Tuesday 8th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

1. What steps her Department is taking to reduce the Crown court backlog.

[Jim Dickson (Dartford) (Lab)]

2. What steps her Department is taking to reduce the Crown court backlog.

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

7. What steps her Department is taking to reduce the Crown court backlog.

--- Later in debate ---

[Shabana Mahmood]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Victims on many occasions feel retraumatised by the criminal justice system because of the long delays. Defendants know that cases are taking too long to be heard; too many of them think that they can game the system, and that if they wait long enough, victims will drop out. That is why we are determined to deliver swifter justice for victims. It is why we have delivered a record number of sitting days in the Crown court this year, and it is why we will do once-in-a-generation reform of our courts after Sir Brian publishes his review.

[Jim Dickson]

Thanks to the massive court delays inherited from the Conservatives, as the Secretary of State said, residents in Dartford continue to face huge delays in getting cases involving them to court. What assurance can she give that the delays will reduce, and that for my constituents, it will not continue to be a case of “justice delayed is justice denied”?

[Shabana Mahmood]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that the old adage, “justice delayed is justice denied”, has come true. We know that we need bold reform. We have to get the backlog down, and we have to deal with the rising and record demand coming into the system as well. That is why we have made a record allocation of Crown court sitting days, but we also need bold, once-in-a-generation reforms. His constituents and the country deserve nothing less.