Labour MP Will Vote For Tory Motion Against Jury Trial Reforms
Justice Secretary David Lammy announced reforms to reduce the number of jury trials in December (Alamy)
5 min read
Exclusive: Labour MP Karl Turner has said he will vote for a Conservative Party motion on Wednesday calling for the government to reverse its decision to abolish jury trials for non-serious offences to clear the court backlog.
The Tories are using Wednesday's Opposition Day Debate in Parliament to force a vote among MPs on the government's justice reforms.
Turner told PoliticsHome he will vote with Kemi Badenoch's Conservatives, even if it means losing the Labour Party whip.
"I respect the whipping system. Parliament would not function without it in my view. But sometimes one must stand for what is right, and I am convinced that this is wrong. Unlike David Lammy, I do not need to consult God to know when a policy is wrong."
Lammy, the Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister, recently told the BBC that his Christian faith plays a part in his determination to reduce the length of time that victims of crime wait for justice.
The Whips' Office declined to comment.
Many other Labour MPs have also expressed concerns about the jury trial reforms, with nearly 40 recently signing a letter opposing the plans. However, it is unclear how many will choose to vote with the Conservatives on Wednesday, as MPs are usually reluctant to support motions put forward by rival parties.
In December, Lammy announced plans to reduce the use of jury trials in England and Wales as part of criminal justice reforms aimed at tackling an unprecedented backlog in Crown Court cases.
Under these proposals, which Lammy said were "bold" but "necessary", juries will no longer be used for crimes with sentences of less than three years. More extreme offences, such as rape and murder, will still be put before a jury, while new "swift courts" will be created within the Crown Court system to help speed up cases.
Speaking to PoliticsHome on Tuesday, Turner said: “I will support the opposition motion on jury trials, which is perfectly reasonable.
"The government have done no modelling whatsoever, and they cannot answer the question as to when any impact statement might be produced."
The Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull East said that the plan would not reduce the court backlog "one iota" and that "it is a blatant untruth to pretend that it will".
He added: "There are many ways to incentivise defendants to plead to offences, but to remove the right to a trial by jury by those accused of criminality is unjust, unworkable and unpopular.
"It is a dereliction of duty for the Justice Secretary to preside over a situation where 20 per cent of courts are not sitting without taking proper action to address this or the multitude of other reasons that delay justice.
"The Prime Minister should intervene and stop this disastrous policy proposal before marching Labour MPs up hills only to U-turn when the penny drops that we will not put up with this."
The Tory motion, expected to be introduced on Wednesday afternoon, will allow MPs to vote on whether they agree that it is wrong to abolish jury trials for crimes with anticipated sentences of three years or less; that restricting the fundamental right to trial by jury will have a limited effect on reducing the court backlog; and call on the government to publish immediately all modelling it has undertaken and received on the potential impact of the abolition of jury trials on that backlog.
Labour MP Karl Turner
Last month, Turner wrote in The House that he would break the Labour whip for the first time since being elected 15 years ago to oppose the reforms, calling them “both a dereliction of duty and an ineffective way of dealing with a crippling backlog of cases”.
PoliticsHome previously revealed that nearly 40 backbench Labour MPs would sign a letter organised by Turner to protest the government’s proposals to scale back jury trials for less serious offences.
38 MPs signed the letter despite the government whips instructing them not to, and according to Turner, around 20 additional MPs removed their names under pressure.
Former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner is understood to be one of the Labour MPs who feel that the government has questions to answer about the reforms. However, she did not sign the backbench letter.
The government has sought to argue that there are many democracies around the world where juries are available only in certain cases and that, without action, victims of crime will continue to wait years for justice.
Catherine Atkinson, Labour MP for Derby North and a barrister, recently wrote in The House that parts of the government announcement had "attracted a huge amount of misconception and misunderstanding" and that, under the proposals, "almost three-quarters of all trials going to the Crown Court will continue to be heard by juries".
She added: "While we are rightly proud of our legal traditions, it is also untrue to suggest the lack of jury trials is something unique to despotic regimes.
"In fact, Sweden – currently placed at number one in the World Justice Project global rankings – is a country that doesn’t use jury trials at all. Norway, ranked number three, also doesn’t. In Germany and the Netherlands, the situation is the same. In France, Denmark and Canada, only the most serious cases are heard by juries."
