UK Government Abandons Controversial Plan to Curb Jury Trials After Backlash

Britain’s government has scrapped controversial plans to curb the historic right to trial by jury in less serious criminal cases, announcing the U-turn on Sunday after sustained criticism from lawyers and politicians, according to Reuters.

The decision by Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who took office in July, drops a policy drawn up under his predecessor Keir Starmer. The Ministry of Justice confirmed that proposals to remove jury trials for cases where a jail sentence was likely to be less than three years would be abandoned, a move broadly welcomed by the Criminal Bar Association and other legal groups.

“I have heard the strength of feeling on the proposals for increasing the number of judge-alone trials in the Crown Court and have made the decision to change course,” Justice Secretary Alex Norris said.

However, legal groups warned the threat to jury trials has not fully passed. Lawyers raised concerns over the ministry’s decision to increase magistrates’ sentencing powers — from 12 months up to two years — and to remove defendants’ right to elect a jury trial, with Criminal Bar Association chair Andrew Thomas saying “a severe threat to our trial by jury remains”, according to Reuters.

The U-turn comes amid a deepening criminal-justice crisis: nearly 81,000 cases were awaiting trial by jury in Crown Courts in England and Wales at the end of June, almost double the figure in 2020, leaving victims, defendants and witnesses waiting years for justice. Starmer’s former justice minister David Lammy had argued last year that reducing jury trials would speed up justice, but the plan provoked a furious backlash. The Sunday Times, which campaigned to protect jury trials, reported that a new version of the Courts and Tribunals Bill will come before parliament next week, focused on increasing magistrates’ powers to tackle the backlog.

Sources:

• Reuters — https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britain-scraps-heavily-criticised-plans-curb-jury-trials-after-backlash-2026-10-03/
• The Times — https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/judge-only-trials-plan-ditched-in-blow-to-starmer-agenda-fd0zkhmkx
• Brit Brief — https://britbrief.co.uk/crime/violence/plan-to-curb-jury-trials-scrapped-by-pm-andy-burnham.html