Karl Turner was the only Labour MP to vote against the Government’s proposed changes to jury trials
Kingston-upon-Hull East MP Karl Turner(Image: PA Archive/PA Images)
Sir Keir Starmer “ought to be ashamed of himself” over the Government’s proposed alterations to jury trials, a Hull MP has said. Karl Turner, a former barrister, argued that stripping away the right to a jury trial in certain cases is “not something the Labour Party believes in”.
The East Hull MP defied the party whip for the first time since becoming an MP in 2010 to vote against the proposals. Mr Turner was the sole Labour MP to oppose the Government but expressed confidence in garnering sufficient party backing to quash the plans if legislation is introduced later this year.
It comes after the Government announced plans to scrap jury trials for offences carrying a likely prison sentence of three years or less. The right to appeal a magistrates’ court decision to a crown court will also be restricted.
The Government says the plans “are set against a record backlog of cases needing to go in front of a judge, with tens of thousands of victims waiting for justice, and the caseload set to hit 100,000 by 2028”. Announcing the proposals, it added “around a quarter of cases that would otherwise have to wait to be heard by a jury will be fast-tracked to go before a judge, freeing up jury trials for where they are most needed”.
This week’s vote came during an Opposition Day in Parliament during which the Conservatives put forward a call for the proposals to be rejected. However, they were defeated by 290 votes to 182. The proposals stem from a review of the justice system led by retired senior judge Sir Brian Leveson.
During the debate in Parliament, Mr Turner made a lengthy statement against the proposals claiming they “will not reduce the backlog one iota”. He described the plans as “ludicrous” and a departure from both the Labour party’s manifesto and the actual recommendations of Sir Brian Leveson. He argued that the policy fails to address the root causes of the court backlog, such as decades of underinvestment and the fact that “75 Crown courtrooms are currently sat idle”.
Mr Turner also suggested that the proposals will not improve efficiency, as any time saved by avoiding a jury will be lost to the lengthy process of judges drafting written judgements. He also raised several practical and legal concerns, including the potential for sentencing errors and the high rate of successful appeals from magistrates’ courts.
Speaking on Times Radio, Mr Turner said: “I was absolutely stunned by this policy. I texted Keir and said to him he ought to be ashamed of himself. I’m completely ashamed of David Lammy.
“Every single justice secretary for the last two decades has been asked by officials to do away with some jury trials, but David Lammy is the fool who fell for the trick.”
He added: “We are absolutely seething with the Government, with the Prime Minister and with David Lammy. I’ve said to the Prime Minister, I want to see him face to face on this single issue, and I expect him to instruct Lammy to stop.”
Mr Turner suggested Sir Keir was advancing a policy which “as a former human rights lawyer he ought to be raving mad about”.
He said: “The truth is that a single judge will have to go away and decide the reasons and write those reasons down … which is not a short process. Every single barrister in the criminal justice system is saying it’s a bad idea and it won’t work.”
Mr Turner expressed hope that sufficient Labour rebels would join him in opposing the plans. “If they’re daft enough to put this legislation forward … I’m confident we’ll defeat it. I think there are enough others,” he said.
“This is not a Labour Party thing, doing away with the right to elect to a jury trial is not something the Labour Party believes in. I don’t know what Keir Starmer believes in. If he believes in this idea, I’m afraid I’m ashamed of him.”