The Government Act currently going through Parliament proposes restricting jury trials to cases carrying a sentence of three years or more, on the grounds that there is an enormous backlog of cases. MK opposes this retrograde and unnecessary step.

The Government itself has created many of the problems facing the courts by cutting court funding, resulting in numerous court closures and reduced sittings in others. Judges have had their sitting days reduced, while cuts to administrative staff have led to paperwork not being prepared on time and defendants arriving late from prison, or not appearing at all.

Juries did not create this problem and removing them will not solve it. The solution lies in reversing funding cuts, reopening courts, and increasing the number of sitting days — not in severely diluting a system that has worked effectively for over 800 years and has been instrumental in securing some of the most important prison reform measures in British history.

This Government Act will result in an unacceptable erosion of citizens’ rights and freedoms.