Preserving Trial by Jury

The right to a trial by jury has been a cornerstone of our democracy for over 800 years.

But today, that fundamental right is under threat.

The former Conservative Government left our criminal justice system in a state of total dysfunction. Now, the Labour Government is taking a sledgehammer to the principle of jury trials instead of tackling the real problem: inefficiency. Their proposal to replace juries with judge-only trials for many offences is a short-sighted mistake that risks permanently damaging public trust in our courts.

Liberal Democrats are standing up to protect trial by jury. 

Today, our members passed a clear plan to tackle the court backlogs without scrapping juries:

• Protect the Right to a Jury: Immediately abandon plans to expand judge-only trials and preserve the right to a jury. 
   
• Boost Court Productivity: Implement an evidence-based strategy to reduce backlogs, including a "two trials a day" model in courtrooms across the country - a system proven during the pandemic to increase court productivity.
   
• Fix Broken Infrastructure: Cancel planned real-terms cuts to the justice budget and invest in repairing underused court buildings so they can be used effectively.
   
• Renegotiate Court Contracts: Tackle the failures in private contracts, such as prisoner transport, which currently cause 1 in 4 trials to be cancelled or delayed at the last minute.
   
• Prioritise Victims: Deliver a system where victims aren't left in limbo for years, ensuring evidence remains fresh and cases don't collapse due to unnecessary delays.

By focusing on common-sense efficiencies - like making better use of underused buildings and addressing the 20% drop in court productivity seen since 2016 - we can deliver the swift justice victims deserve while keeping our most sacred legal protections intact.

Trial by jury works. 6 in 10 people express confidence in jury verdicts, compared to just 4 in 10 for the court system more generally. Removing juries won't just fail to clear the backlog; it will alienate the public from the justice system itself.