Preserving Trial by Jury

Chair: Cllr Gareth Epps; Aide: Baroness Pinnock; Hall Aide: Cllr Callum Robertson

Submitted by: 12 party members
Mover: Jess Brown-Fuller MP (Spokesperson for Justice)
Summation: Max Wilkinson MP (Spokesperson for Home Affairs)

Conference notes:

1. The complacency of the former Conservative Government, which drove the criminal justice system into dysfunction and and left victims and survivors facing years-long waits for justice.
2. The Crown Court backlog, with around 78,000 cases waiting to be completed, meaning that defendants charged with serious offences today may not face trial until late 2029 or early 2030.
3. The 20 per cent fall in Crown Court productivity since 2016.
4. Proposals announced by the Labour Government on 2 December 2025 to remove jury trials for offences likely to result in custodial sentences of less than three years, replacing them with trials by a judge sitting alone.
5. Evidence that public confidence in juries is significantly higher than confidence in the justice system as a whole, with around six in ten people expressing 'a fair amount' or 'a great deal' of confidence in juries delivering the right verdict, compared with around four in ten for courts and judges more generally.
6. The 2017 Lammy Review, chaired by the current Justice Secretary, which found that black and Chinese women are convicted at higher rates than white women in magistrates' courts, but not by juries.
7. The current Justice Secretary's comments in 2020 that jury trials are a cornerstone of democracy and that their removal would be a mistake.
8. Real-terms cuts of approximately 3 per cent annually to the Ministry of Justice capital budget until 2028-29.

Conference believes that:

1. Victims and survivors deserve swift justice and should not be left waiting for years while evidence deteriorates and cases collapse.
2. Urgent action is required to reduce court backlogs and ensure the justice system functions effectively and fairly.
3. Trial by jury has been a cornerstone of the justice system for over 800 years and restricting it for a large category of offences is a counterproductive and short-sighted response to court delays.
4. There is no evidence that jury trials are a primary driver of court backlogs, which are instead caused by inefficiencies, mismanagement, staff shortages and estate failure.
5. Removing juries risks reducing public trust in the justice system and may lead to unfair and disproportionate outcomes for women and minority defendants.

Conference calls on the Government to:

1. Abandon plans to remove jury trials for all but the most serious offences and to expand the use of judge-only trials.
2. Publish and implement a comprehensive, evidence-based strategy to reduce court backlogs, including by increasing Crown Court sitting days; making effective use of underused court buildings; addressing failures in outsourced and private contracts, including prisoner transport, which cause avoidable delays; and investing in effective rehabilitation and prevention to reduce reoffending rates.
3. Cancel planned real-terms cuts to the Ministry of Justice capital budget and make the necessary repairs and improvements to Crown Court infrastructure.

Applicability: England and Wales.

Mover: 7 minutes; summation 4 minutes; all other speakers: 3 minutes. For eligibility and procedure for speaking in this debate, see pages 10-11 of the agenda. You can submit a speaker's card online here or in person.

The deadline for amendments to this motion is 13.00 Monday 2 March; you can submit amendments online here, see pages 9–10 of the agenda for more information. Those selected for debate will be printed in Conference Extra and Saturday’s Conference Daily. The deadline for requests for separate votes is 09.00 Thursday 12 March; see page 9 of the agenda for more information.