Criminal Courts: Independent Review

Tony Vaughan Excerpts

Tuesday 14th October 2025 Westminster Hall

[Tony Vaughan (Folkestone and Hythe) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Efford. I thank the right hon. and learned Member for Kenilworth and Southam (Sir Jeremy Wright) for securing this important debate. As he said, we have serious and fundamental challenges in our criminal court system, and it is clear that only bold, radical action will overcome them.

There are lots of areas of the public realm on which the last 14 years of austerity had devastating impacts—the NHS, the police, our schools, and our asylum system—but I saw the impact of austerity on our court system most tangibly. As a barrister for 18 years before being elected last July, I saw the bruises inflicted by the wholesale neglect of our court system: leaking roofs, crumbling buildings and demoralised staff. I know many criminal barristers and solicitors who have walked away from criminal law because the failing and poorly resourced system was making them feel they could no longer deliver justice, which was what they went into the profession to do.

The Government inherited a record Crown court backlog. As of June 2025, the outstanding caseload stood at 78,329, as the Chair of the Justice Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Hammersmith and Chiswick (Andy Slaughter), has said. That is 78,329 individual injustices caused by the failure of the state to ensure that justice is done. I know that the Government are taking real practical steps to deal with that, and I strongly welcome the improved resourcing of criminal legal aid, with £92 million more per year for criminal legal aid solicitors, and the funding of a record-high allocation of 111,250 Crown court judicial sitting days this financial year.

It is obvious, however, that the demand in our criminal courts is still so high that the steps already taken by the Government will not be enough to address the outstanding backlog. That is why it is important that the Government asked Sir Brian Leveson to propose reforms to ensure that our court system can be fair, timely and efficient. This Government should not tolerate a situation—nor should any of us—where justice is delayed and denied to thousands of people every year.

I acknowledge the concerns that have been raised about Sir Brian Leveson’s proposal to restrict jury trials for certain either-way offences. Some have worried that removing a defendant’s right to elect trial by jury appears to diminish fundamental constitutional protections. I have sympathy for the point, raised by a colleague, that there is a need to maintain public trust in the judicial system, which could be undermined in the eyes of certain marginalised groups if this is not done correctly. But at present we have thousands of people who are being denied justice. As my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Leigh Ingham) just told us in tragic detail, there are people who are being completely failed by our system, and we cannot stand by and let that happen.

As the right hon. and learned Member for Kenilworth and Southam said, this is about changing the threshold for jury trial, not removing it. I agree with his analysis that the availability of jury trial, given the situation we find ourselves in, must be balanced against the challenges that the system is facing as a whole. The proposed Crown court bench division represents reform that appears to preserve the fundamental standards of justice that we expect, while addressing the crisis threatening to collapse our entire court system.

Cases will still be tried by the same professional judges who currently oversee jury trials, sitting with two experienced magistrates. That maintains judicial independence and legal expertise, while the magistrates add lay participation. Importantly, the new division remains within the Crown court structure, ensuring that defendants retain access to the same qualified advocates, fee structures and procedural protections they would receive in a jury trial.

It is important that we maintain the standards of fairness that our judicial system has long guaranteed. I can see the time, and will end there.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jess Brown-Fuller]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. It is really important to put that on record as something that also needs to be addressed, and all of those elements that contribute to exacerbating backlogs and professionals walking away from their service.

Types of and methods for presenting evidence have developed massively with new technology, but our courts have somehow served as time capsules and not kept up with innovation. The growing backlog in our criminal courts is also directly exacerbating the crisis of prison overcrowding. Remand populations continue to rise, now accounting for over one fifth of the entire prison population. That is not sustainable and nor is it just. The right hon. and learned Member for Kenilworth and Southam made a very valid point that while people on remand are in prison awaiting trial, they are not having the rehabilitative programmes that could prevent them from reoffending.

We need to be clear where the fault for this lies. Years of poor governance have led to chronic under-investment in and neglect of our nation’s courts and justice infrastructure. The fact that one of the Labour Government’s first actions last year was to implement an emergency early release scheme to create space in our prisons is something that those on the Conservative Benches should apologise for. They ignored the crisis for far too long and left it for the incoming Government to clear up. It was under them that the backlog ballooned, that busy Crown courts such as the one in my constituency of Chichester were closed, and that staff shortages persisted.

The hole that our justice system is in is a deep and worrying one. It is therefore right that an independent, innovative and external review into the system by the well-respected Brian Leveson was commissioned. The first half of the report has provided some interesting ideas to address many of the issues outlined, and it will certainly create debate on what can be done. Responding to the headline suggestions—I am not going to cover all 45—about the Crown court bench division and reductions in trial by jury, the Liberal Democrats are deeply concerned by any impingement on the right of individuals to face trial by jury in a Crown court. That right is a cornerstone of the judicial process which, as has been set out in a number of reports, has been proven to be non-discriminatory and multiracial. That diversity cannot be guaranteed if trials are increasingly presided over by judges alone.

The Government’s efforts to implement the necessary reforms to the courts system to address the untenable backlog should be centred on the principle of ensuring that justice is delivered fairly and without discrimination. The removal of the right of individuals to trial by jury would undermine that aim, reducing the likelihood of both victims and defendants receiving a fair hearing, and therefore should be firmly opposed. As many Members acknowledged, including the hon. Member for Bridgwater (Sir Ashley Fox), there is no robust argument that the removal of trial by jury would make a significant difference to the backlog. I wait to be convinced, if the Government decide to take that recommendation on board. That is not to say that the issues surrounding the processes of trial by jury should not be addressed.

As outlined in the Leveson report, the increasing length and complexity of trials is having a serious financial and mental impact on jurors. However, that must not be utilised as an argument to undermine the right to a fair trial. Instead, jurors must receive financial support and appropriate wellbeing services throughout proceedings. I have been contacted by many constituents who were keen to play their part in the justice system and do their jury service, but the financial burden, especially for those who were self-employed, had a huge impact on their livelihoods.

Liberal Democrats are also concerned about the potential impact of the proposed Crown court bench division on the workload of magistrates who would be drawn in to operate those courts. Attempts to mitigate the severe backlog in the Crown courts that exacerbate the backlog in the magistrates courts are clearly an undesirable outcome. The Magistrates Association states that implementing the recommendations would require an increase in the number of magistrates required. The creation of an intermediate court would therefore jeopardise magistrates’ current ability to deliver swift justice. That is particularly concerning for survivors of domestic abuse who already face distressing delays.

[Tony Vaughan]

As the hon. Lady seems to oppose a lot of the meat of the reforms, is there one that she can support to reduce the pressures on the system? That is a fundamental task that we all agree needs to be addressed.

[Jess Brown-Fuller]

I have picked out the main recommendations in the report that I cannot agree with. There are 45 recommendations in the Leveson report and some of them could go some way, but removing the key pillar of our justice system by removing the right to trial by jury is something that I cannot support.