Mr Turner’s opposition to the reform of jury trials has been very vocal. He abstained when the legislation had its first Commons test on March 10, but said he planned amendments to strip the Bill of the “completely unworkable, unpopular, unjust and unnecessary” measures restricting access to a crown court jury trial.
Mr Turner had previously threatened to quit the Commons and trigger a by-election over the proposals, which would see cases with a likely sentence of three years or less being heard by a single crown court judge, and magistrates’ courts taking on cases with a likely sentence of up to two years. He was also the only Labour MP to vote with the Conservatives during an Opposition Day motion earlier this year in which the Tories called for the proposals to be scrapped.
Mr Turner has also been critical about the state of Labour, saying the Gorton and Denton by-election defeat to the Greens last month was “catastrophic”. He blamed the decision to block Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham from running for the seat for the loss.