Labour accused of blocking jury trials advice

Allegations have been made that the government has controversially blocked Labour MPs from receiving advice on plans to cut jury trials. The group ‘Society of Labour Lawyers’ (SLL) appears to have been shut out of giving advice to ministers.

Karl Turner, who is leading a backbench rebel group of MPs from within Labour, has raised alarm that officials are blocking the SLL from briefing MPs on their professional legal opinion about the government’s proposed ‘reforms’. Turner told the Guardian:

The policy position of the SLL is that these measures are a terrible mistake, are unworkable and must be stopped but they have been blocked from sharing that position with Labour MPs in a briefing of the sort which one would expect it to be able to make.

Labour barking up the wrong tree

Under justice secretary David Lammy’s plans, the right for a jury trial will be removed from some defendants in yet another move to take from ordinary people. Apparently, the government now wants to treat crimes carrying sentences of three years or less as undeserving of the right to a fair trial. A right which will continue to be afforded to more serious offences.

This cut will be applied to either-way offences which receive a sentence lesser than 3 years. Lammy has faced widespread push back from lawyers across the UK in protest at this move which removes a crucial aspect to a UK citizen’s right to a fair trial.

Lawyer Peter Stefanovic has also condemned the shocking authoritarian move to block advice from specialists by the UK Labour government:

No informed decisions allowed for MPs, apparently

It’s deeply ironic that qualified lawyers cannot share their specialised knowledge, particularly when David Lammy – a qualified barrister himself – has demonstrated such ineptitude. Legality clearly isn’t a concern for the UK government, as we wrote yesterday:

Once again, the UK government is shown to be woefully inept with cabinet ministers unable to even exercise their supposed specialised knowledge. Lammy, a qualified barrister and first black Briton to study at Harvard, seems incapable, or unwilling, to be honest about the likely impact of his penny-pinching policy to remove jury trials in some criminal cases.

This latest revelation reinforces the reality that the UK government continues to make transparency harder in the way the state operates against its citizens. Only those with something to hide seek to prevent others from making informed decisions. Ordinary people should not suffer the consequences of the criminal justice system’s mismanagement by successive governments.

If the government can find money for bombs, it can find money to safeguard and strengthen justice.

This isn’t a new issue, they’ve always struggled with their priorities:

Women MPs in favour of proposed changes

According to the Guardian, there are over 30 female Labour MPs pressing Lammy to continue on and not back down to the pressure. The letter from the MPs read:

We know from our personal experiences the ways in which our justice system is failing women and girls across this country.

Playing devil’s advocate, there is some merit to the argument that this could lead to swifter justice for female victims of abuse. Jury trials can sometimes result in offenders receiving lighter convictions when jurors project self-rationalised judgments about what victims supposedly ‘asked for’. As a result, victims often have to relive their deep trauma in court. This only works to compound the impact of abuse on their lives, while effectively facing greater scrutiny than their abusers.

However, we cannot prioritise one type of victim while risking creating countless more victims of our CJS. After all, a right to a fair trial is a right inherent to every citizen of the UK in accordance with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Instead of infringing rights further, work should be done to make trials by jury fairer, more efficient, and more effective.

Informed legal decisions are essential when ordinary people will ultimately bear the fallout. Abuse victims already contend with immense trauma; policymakers should not use their suffering to justify curbing others’ human rights.

The fact so many lawyers are deeply concerned about Lammy’s proposals but are being blocked from advising MPs is nothing short of a disgrace for our justice system.

Featured image via the Canary