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Ministers could extend juryless trials ‘by a stroke of a pen’
Sunday Times page 2 @thetimes by @emilydugan
A new power to switch crimes to judge-only hearings without parliamentary scrutiny could be abused by future governments, leading barristers fear
“Flora Page KC, who represented victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal in the public inquiry, said: “It’s the power, without any proper parliamentary scrutiny, to create new offences which will have juryless trials that really worries me. It’s bad enough getting rid of juries in serious fraud cases, which troubles me already, but at least that’s out there, that’s in the legislation. What I find really troubling is the idea that any serious or complex case could, by a stroke of a pen and a statutory instrument, become another judge-only trial.”
“Let’s say officials or ministers were involved, and the police bring charges because they think that’s appropriate, and then the government could probably do pretty quickly a statutory instrument to say, ‘Right, that’s a judge-only trial’.
And then you’ve got a political trial being heard without the sort of public scrutiny it otherwise would have, and without members of the public deciding on guilt or not guilt.”
thetimes.com/article/dac2265…
Ministers could extend judge-only trials for MPs ‘with a stroke of a pen’
By @emilydugan in the Sunday Times page 2 and online @thetimes
Explaining the democratic risks, shadow Solicitor General, Dr @KieranMullanUK said “We could see all sorts of offences added, and as far as I’m aware there has never been a power for ministers quite like this before — to bypass the full scrutiny of parliament, the way in which we pass the most important laws, when deciding what comes on and off a list of who gets a jury trial.”
“Andrew Thomas KC, chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, said the trial without-jury clause in the bill was an “anti-democratic measure” that would “create a system of two-tier justice in our crown courts”. He said: “Judge-only trials could be extended to cases of bribery or misconduct in a public office, where politicians and other powerful people are under scrutiny. ‘Complex’ is not defined.”
“Ministers could introduce judge-only trials for politically damaging cases without a vote in parliament because of a clause buried in a bill that has been approved by MPs.
The unprecedented law would mean any type of trial in England and Wales deemed complex or lengthy, other than rape or homicide, could be recategorised as judge-only without the need for a new vote.”
Page 2 of the Sunday Times and
Full article here
thetimes.com/article/dac2265…
The CBA retweeted
The queue in the Crown Court is 80,000 cases long.
Today, almost a quarter of courtrooms sit closed.
That’s a failure. On any metric, on any day, in any world.
Hire some Judges. Hire some staff. Improve working conditions so lawyers stop leaving.
And start hearing rape trials.
📈Today, 30 October 2026, 121 out of the 532 Crown courtrooms in England & Wales will not be sitting.
That's 23% of them. #courtstats #CS30102026 courtstats.co.uk
Please @UKHouseofLords members read this thread by @Joanna__Hardy
And refer also to this
The CBA retweeted
So. There you go. It’s a failure of a Bill. It won’t work on its own terms, it won’t work on any reasonable sense of justice, it will simply move the queue for victims, and the underlying stats are laughable.
Please. Do enjoy your debate today. ❤️
The CBA retweeted
Don’t get me started on some fraud trials randomly losing juries. What’s that even about? Juries aren’t stupid.
They understand dishonesty when they see it.
The CBA retweeted
Oh, and ask the government if they will ensure those subject to these new powers and new provisions will definitely qualify for Legal Aid so a lawyer can assist them and be remunerated at a rate commensurate with the seriousness of the offence. Honestly. Ask them that twice.
The CBA retweeted
And will these applications for appeal be concisely drafted by experienced lawyers or will they be wheelbarrows full of handwritten dossiers and letters to MPs and AI slop because not everyone in the Mags will qualify for Legal Aid?
The CBA retweeted
When is a Circuit Judge going to find the time to watch CCTV, or ABEs, or consider legal argument from the summary jurisdiction? When are they going to write their reasons for allowing or refusing leave to appeal?
The CBA retweeted
They say the proceedings in the Mags will be recorded. Honestly, I read court transcripts all the time and they are seldom short. When is a Circuit Judge (tasked, LET US NOT FORGET, with conquering the backlog) going to peruse the proceedings in a 6 witness harassment trial?
The CBA retweeted
And Crown Court Judges can’t speak publicly on this issue - and I don’t seek to speak for them - but if I were sitting as a Judge tasked with determining ‘leave to appeal’ applications from the Magistrates’ Court I would be very worried:
The CBA retweeted
Hold on to your socks - they want to restrict something (important) that only amounts to 4% of receipts, but appears to be rather successful (if 60% fail HOW MANY SUCCEED?) because they think - in light of their own reforms - more people might appeal?
My god.
The CBA retweeted
Because this is all quite bonkers now, isn’t it? Let’s see what the Government say about the stats:
The CBA retweeted
Sixth, if you do somehow think that death by careless driving or sexual assault with sentences less than 2 years should be tried in a summary fashion in a growing queue (ahem), then how do you feel about the automatic right of appeal being removed?
The CBA retweeted
Fifth, just don’t get me started on the diversity of the Magistracy. They can run all the expensive (!) recruitment campaigns they like - but no one is fixing this:
The CBA retweeted
It would be like the Health Secretary saying ‘Look! No queue for surgery!’
But then the camera pans to the GP queue and those waiting are gnawing off their own arms and extracting their appendix with a spoon.
The CBA retweeted
What will happen is the Crown Court backlog will fall and will be held up as a success story. But, beneath it, will be a log-jammed Magistrates’ Court, with a traffic jam of human misery.
That’s not what success looks like.
The CBA retweeted
Fourth, do you really think this is going to speed things up? The Mags backlog is huge and growing. The Crown Court backlog is showing signs of stabilising AND a whole host of measures have arrived recently that will begin to bite.
They’re moving one queue to another.
The CBA retweeted
They won’t do it. Honestly, even if they start doing it, they’ll soon stop. The ‘serious’ (I use the term re sentence only) either way offences of 12-24 months will soon find their way to a Judge alone for trial.
Don’t let them introduce a Bench Division in a different building.
The CBA retweeted
Which is exactly, EXACTLY, what the government had to abandon in the Commons.
Honestly. Very few Lay Magistrates can volunteer for 2-3 days at a time. And, those who can are likely to be retired or economically comfortable. Part heard trials go off for weeks or months.
The CBA retweeted
Third, do you really think they’ll be giving this new cohort of serious either way *trials* to Lay Magistrates? By design or necessity they will - of course - end up before District Judges sitting alone who can sit for multiple days.
Which is a BENCH DIVISION via the back door.