Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #trialbyjury, aggregated by home.social.
Why plan for judge-only trials in fraud cases is wrong | Letters
By Guardian Staff
Nic Madge and David Lindsay respond to the government’s proposals to reform the criminal justice system
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/oct/11/why-plan-for-judge-only-trials-in-cases-is-wrong
#Trialbyjury #UKcriminaljustice #Law #England #Wales #UKnews #TheGuardian #GuardianStaff
Good headline. #DavidLammy's plot against #TrialByJury is undone!
But check the small print.
New #LordChancellor, #AlexNorris, hasn't entirely scrapped #Lammy's plan.
Yes, judge-only courts are gone.
But, the max sentence in magistrates courts is still increased, to at least 18 months.
And in either-way cases, the right to choose #TrialByJury will be taken from defendants, and given to #magistrates. That will be disastrous for protesters. 😡
https://www.europesays.com/videos/105061/ BREAKING: Andy Burnham SCRAPS Keir Starmer’s plans to end jury trials in MAJOR Labour U-turn #Analysis #AndyBurnham #BreakingNews #BritishPolitics #CourtBacklog #CourtDelays #CriminalJustice #CROWNCOURT #GBNews #GBNewsLive #GBN #JuryTrialReforms #JuryTrials #JuryTrialsScrapped #JusticeSystem #KeirStarmer #LabourGovernment #LabourLatest #LabourUTurn #news #NewsUpdate #politics #Reports #TrialByJury #uk #UKPolitics #WorldNews
We are shocked that Palestine Action barrister faces contempt proceedings | Letters
By Guardian Staff
Former clients of Rajiv Menon KC, including Tariq Ali and Hillsborough family members Margaret Aspinall and Sue Roberts, say the charges against him must be dropped. Plus a letter from Andrew Smith
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/jul/31/as-rajiv-menons-clients-the-contempt
#Contemptofcourt #Law #Trialbyjury #PalestineAction #TheGuardian #GuardianStaff
Andy Burnham signals he will scrap plans to curb jury trials https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/jul/31/andy-burnham-signals-scrap-plans-curb-jury-trials #TrialByJury #UkCriminalJustice #AndyBurnham #DavidLammy #Labour #Politics #Law #UkNews #England #Wales
https://www.europesays.com/people/171175/ Wife of Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez has passport revoked as court orders corruption trial #BegoñaGómez #corruption #LeavingTheCountry #PedroSánchez #PrecautionaryMeasures #SpanishCourt #TrialByJury
One day, your life and future may depend on a jury. The integrity of that legal process is in peril right now | Imran Khan
By Imran Khan
When a barrister is cited for contempt because of his argument to a jury, as happened in a Palestine Action trial, the risks affect us all
#Trialbyjury #Contemptofcourt #UKcriminaljustice #Barristers #Law #UKnews #TheGuardian #ImranKhan
One day, your life and future may depend on a jury. The integrity of that legal process is in peril right now | Imran Khan https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/23/trial-by-jury-barristers-contempt-of-court-palestine-action #TrialByJury #ContemptOfCourt #UkCriminalJustice #Barristers #Law #UkNews
UK climate activists fear case delays could cost them right to jury trial https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/jun/21/uk-climate-activists-case-delays-trial-by-jury #TrialByJury #UkCriminalJustice #Law #UkNews
SWANSEA: Protesters to gather outside Crown Court this morning in defence of the 800-year-old right to trial by jury
Local people will gather outside Swansea Crown Court this morning from 11am to 1pm in protest against government plans to scrap jury trials for a large swathe of criminal cases — joining similar demonstrations outside more than 30 courts across England and Wales.
The protest is organised by the Jury Alliance. It comes as the Courts and Tribunals Bill — currently at report stage in Parliament — threatens to replace juries with a single judge for all Crown Court cases where a likely sentence of three years or less is expected.
The Bill passed its second reading in March by 304 votes to 203. If enacted, it would remove a defendant’s right to elect Crown Court trial in so-called “either-way” cases for the first time in the history of English law.
Gareth Harper, a graphic designer from Swansea who will be taking part in the protest, said jury trials were a direct reflection of how local communities viewed the law.
“Some of the laws that govern our country date back hundreds of years,” he said. “Jury trials give an accurate impression of how the people in the UK feel right now. Without jury trials our legal system will become stagnant and unrepresentative of our citizens.”
Leigh Evans, a retired nurse from Swansea who will also be at the demonstration, said the right dated back to Magna Carta and went to the heart of what justice meant.
“For over 800 years juries have been the driving force behind fairness and equity in the British judicial system,” she said. “Not one state-employed judge making a judgement, but our peers making a collective decision for the greater good of us all.”
Mike Reed, a retired solicitor from Carmarthen who will also be attending, said the government was proposing to remove a protection that had stood for more than 800 years.
“Trial by jury has been a fundamental principle of the British justice system since Magna Carta in 1215,” he said. “The government plans to remove this right for thousands of criminal cases.”
The government’s stated justification for the change is to reduce the court backlog, which currently stands at around 80,000 cases. Critics point out that the backlog worsened significantly after more than half of all courts were closed between 2010 and 2019, and that limits on the number of sitting days judges could hear each year contributed further.
Opposition to the Bill has come from some prominent legal figures. Flora Page KC — the barrister whose work helped overturn wrongful convictions in the Post Office Horizon scandal — recently resigned from the Legal Services Board so she could speak out against the changes.
In her resignation letter to Justice Secretary David Lammy, Page said she believed the backlog was being used as a justification for a change that had been planned regardless.
The Jury Alliance is a new public campaigning group formed specifically to oppose the plans. Further information is available at thejuryalliance.uk.
Related stories from Swansea Bay News
UK Government news from Swansea Bay News
All our coverage of Westminster politics and legislation.
Sheffielders to protest outside the Crown Court to protect the right to Trial by Jury
800 years, one bill. The Labour Government is dismantling a cornerstone of the British Constitution, one jury at a time.
by The Jury Alliance
The Jury Alliance is to host a national campaigning day of action outside over 30 crown courts across England and Wales. [1]
On Monday, May 18th at 8.45am, local people will gather at Sheffield Crown Court to demonstrate opposition to the government’s attack on trial by jury. Juries are a fundamentally local issue. Juries are made up of 12 randomly selected local people. They reflect the local community and provide a vital, common-sense check on the law.
Sean Ashton from Sheffield and one of those taking part outside Sheffield Crown Court, said, “The juries are a vital part of our legal system. I am protesting today to make it clear to the Labour Government that they cannot get away with this.”
The Jury Alliance is a new public campaigning group, aiming to raise public awareness and demonstrate the strength of public opposition to the government’s plans to limit trial by jury. [2]
Since the Justice Secretary’s announcement in December last year that the right to trial by jury would be removed from tens of thousands of cases, in order to reduce the backlog crisis in the criminal justice system, the government continues to rush through this new legislation.
If passed, the Courts and Tribunals Bill, currently at the Report stage, will see a single judge replacing a jury, 12 randomly selected members of the public, for all cases in the Crown Court where a prison sentence of three years or less is expected.
Flora Page K.C. , the barrister who overturned wrongful convictions in the Post Office Horizon scandal, recently resigned from the Legal Services Board, the independent regulator of legal services in England and Wales so she could oppose the changes. [2]
In her resignation letter to the Justice Secretary she said:
“I am sorry to say that I believe the backlog is a cynical cover, something that the officials have worked on intentionally to give you and Ms Sackman the ammunition you feel you need to take aim at jury trial. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”
Sir Geoffrey Cox KC – a practising criminal barrister of 44 years – told the House of Commons during the second reading debate:
“Jury trial is the most powerful instrument and engine of social justice that this country has ever invented. It is a safeguard against oppression. It is a built-in defence against establishment and administrative power…At a time when our institutions are under unprecedented attack, is now the time to transfer a massive trunk of the administration of criminal justice to a representative who will unquestionably be seen as a representative of the state?”
Notes
Contact: [email protected]
Photos and videos from Sheffield will be available here after the event
[1] https://thejuryalliance.uk/ The Jury Alliance is a campaigning group looking to publicise the government’s attacks on juries and oppose the attacks
[2]Background
Since 1215, when Article 39 of Magna Carta established that no free person could be imprisoned or stripped of their rights except by “the lawful judgment of their equals,” the right to be judged by your peers has been the constitutional bedrock of English criminal justice.
David Lammy, the Justice Secretary, spoke against the removal of jury trials when he was in opposition. He also pointed out that the people from minority ethnic groups get fairer treatment by juries than by magistrates or a single judge in his landmark Lammy review.
The changes are widely disliked by the legal profession, including solicitors, barristers and judges.
The court backlog currently stands at 80,000 cases. Between 2010 and 2019 the government closed over half of all courts. Until this year, the government limited the number of days that judges could hear cases, called sitting days, to save money
The U-turn
In a whiplash-inducing U-turn, David Lammy, having opposed the removal of juries in opposition, is now proposing halving the number of jury trials. This measure didn’t appear in the Labour Party manifesto and as such, has no electoral mandate. Given the local elections results, if anything, the people have rejected these and Labour’s other policies.
The government claims that the measure is to address the backlog, but figures show that with the removal of the limit on sitting days, the court backlog is starting to reduce.
What’s in the Bill
The Courts and Tribunals Bill, introduced to Parliament on 25 February 2026 and passed at second reading on 10 March by 304 votes to 203, removes for the first time a defendant’s right to elect Crown Court trial in either-way cases. Cases where the likely sentence is three years or less would be heard by a single judge – no jury, no community voice, no democratic check on the state.
Ministers have compared this to the system in Canada, except that in Canada, you have the choice to opt for a judge-only trial. As such, the British system, removing all choice (even for judges), is the complete opposite of the Canadian system.
[3] Listen to Flora Page KC talk about the future of juries and why Labour’s plans won’t work and are so dangerous on this podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s06-ep8-the-future-of-juries/id1508061420?i=1000766344895 (You can skip the first 11 minutes of chat)
#Starmer lied his way to power, with #DarkMoney. He ran a #HierarchyOfRacism in the #LabourParty, purged Jewish members for anti-zionism, binged on #freebies.
In power, Starmer:
^ starved kids
^ froze grannies
^ endorsed cutting water to civilians
^ shared intelligence with genociders
^ criminalised opponents of #genocide as "terrorist"
^ appointed a #paedophile-adjacent ambassador
^ restricts #TrialByJury
But now Starmer has the cheek to call #ZackPolanski unfit to lead. 😡 #YCMTSU.
#Starmtroopers are tough on fair trials, and tough on the causes of fair trials.
UK #LabourParty #MP #KarlTurner loses the party whip for opposing David #Lammy's restrictions on #TrialByJury.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg54v6p98rjo
Morgan #McSweeney has been ousted, but the bullyboy tactics in Downing Street continue.
Why axe so many juries? My plan would solve the courts crisis without harming justice | Alan Moses https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/23/juries-courts-crisis-justice-retired-judges-england-wales #TrialByJury #Law #UkCriminalJustice #UkNews
‘A weight’s been lifted’: MP Charlotte Nichols on speaking up about rape trial delays https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/mar/19/mp-charlotte-nichols-on-speaking-up-about-trial-delays-ntwnfb #UkCriminalJustice #TrialByJury #UkNews #Women #Law #Society
Cutting jury trials risks ‘undermining justice’ for abused women and girls, Lammy warned https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/mar/17/cutting-jury-trials-risks-undermining-justice-for-abused-women-and-girls-lammy-warned #TrialByJury #ViolenceAgainstWomenAndGirls #UkCriminalJustice #DomesticViolence #UkNews #Law #Women #England #Wales #RapeAndSexualAssault
Juries want fairness in court and don’t just obey the government. That’s why ministers are attacking them | Michael Mansfield https://www.theguardian.com/law/commentisfree/2026/mar/17/labour-juries-court-proposals-government-ministers-criminal-justice-system #TrialByJury #Law #UkCriminalJustice #UkNews #DavidLammy #Politics #KeirStarmer #Labour
#TrialByJury is not an English invention. #JuryTrial is a medieval English adaptation from Nordic & classical precedents.
But the result is one of the greatest protections against injustice. Yet after hundreds of years, the Injustice Secretary #DavidLammy wants to severely restrict juries.
#GeoffreyCox's contribution to the debate is one of the great #Commons speeches. A former #AttorneyGeneral, Cox's booming voice politely shreds the government case.
If you want to understand the underlying reason that the Govt. (in the person of David Lammy) wants to restrict trial by jury, don't take the claims it will resolve the courts backlog too seriously (even Lammy admits it will have only a small effect over time), look at what juries often do.... which is not just take prosecutors claims at face value!
Yup, they're unreliable in the exercise of political repression & so need to be removed!
Thousands of lawyers urge Keir Starmer to rethink plans to cut jury trials https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/mar/10/lawyers-urge-keir-starmer-rethink-plans-cut-jury-trials #TrialByJury #UkCriminalJustice #KeirStarmer #DavidLammy #Politics #Labour #Law #UkNews
Labour lawyers ‘blocked’ from briefing MPs on jury trials overhaul before vote https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/mar/09/labour-lawyers-blocked-briefing-mps-jury-trials-overhaul #TrialByJury #Labour #Judiciary #Law #DavidLammy #UkNews #Politics
Horrifying.
#Starmer & #Lammy Removing your rights as fast as they can.
Out with #TrialByJury in with #TrialByPoliticalAppointee
#StarmersBritain
Palestine Action Protesters Found Not Guilty of Burglary—and Worse
Kirsty Brimelow, the chair of the Bar Council which represents barristers in England and Wales, had said that her organisation was in complete opposition to the plans to diminish #TrialbyJury for "pragmatic and principled reasons" - and argued they had been put forward for "ideological" reasons.
Xx
Honest, this not a spoof. It's a screenshot from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/04/lammy-my-christian-faith-shows-me-right-curb-jury-trials/ / https://archive.is/Ta0k8
Did #Jesus actually denounce #trialbyjury? Or is David #Lammy as a mad as a box of frogs?
David Lammy is right to slash the use of juries – it’s an open-and-shut case | Simon Jenkins https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/28/david-lammy-jury-trials-justice-system #UKcriminaljustice #Trialbyjury #DavidLammy #Barristers #Politics #UKnews #Law
Jury trials are flawed and unwieldy – but vital for justice being seen to be done | Gaby Hinsliff https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/28/jury-trials-flawed-unwieldy-justice-legal-system-david-lammy #UKcriminaljustice #Trialbyjury #DavidLammy #Judiciary #UKnews #Law
@ChrisMayLA6 Please don't dismiss that as mere kite-flying!
A 3-year sentence threshold will still cover most of the cases currently heard in Crown Courts. It remains a devastating attack on the right to #TrialByJury.
Since 2010, 295 court facilities (including magistrates' courts, county courts, tribunal buildings, family courts, and crown courts) closed in England and Wales, with 239 total court closures occurring over a 12-year period
That's the why
Wondering whether the #OBR cock-up was deliberate, so that this news about #TrialByJury being massively curtailed would slide under the radar? #Justice #Jurisprudence #FairTrial
Link to Independent.co.uk:
The UK's hated #Starmer regime proposes to massively curtail the right to #TrialByJury.
Robert Hardy was a judge for two decades. He defends the importance of juries.
It’s amazing what he’s turned into
“MoJ to remove right to trial by jury for thousands of cases in controversial overhaul.” And so our ancient rights are eroded. #Labour #Justice #TrialByJury
Kenyan man who spent decade on death row sues London police for role in wrongful conviction https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/29/kenyan-ali-kololo-death-row-sues-met-wrongful-conviction #Metropolitanpolice #Trialbyjury #HomeOffice #Worldnews #Africa #Police #Kenya #Crime #Law
The Luigi Mangione case has got people talking about jury nullification.
Learn more about jury nullification here:
#LuigiMangione #JuryNullification #FullyInformedJuryAssociation #TrialByJury #CriminalJustice
"The trial Judge had ruled out all the four’s potential legal defences, including the necessity to save lives and prevent the greater crime. In order to be able to appeal directly to the jury, the actionists then represented themselves in court and reminded the jury members of their right to acquit as a matter of conscience, regardless of legal argument.
https://skwawkbox.org/2024/09/13/jury-defies-judge-and-refuses-to-convict-palestine-action-activists/
#TrialbyJury #UKgovernment #climatecrisis
"Referring to her daughter's use of Uber Eats, Mrs McGinty says she does not know how it can be right that she is considered to have "authorised my child to waive our rights to go to a trial if we're injured in a car accident." "
Note to self, never use Uber Eats.
#Uber #lawsuits #accidentinjuries
#ArbitrationClause #trialbyjury
Uber terms mean couple can't sue after 'life-changing' crash https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy9j8ldp0lo?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us
Government drops appeal over climate activist who held sign outside UK court https://www.theguardian.com/law/article/2024/aug/15/government-drops-appeal-over-climate-activist-who-held-sign-outside-uk-court #Environmentalactivism #UKcriminaljustice #UKcivilliberties #Climatecrisis #Trialbyjury #Environment #Politics #Protest #England #UKnews #Law
You can read the full judgment in #TrudiWarner’s important victory over the Solicitor General here. It confirms the principle of #juryequity and acknowledges that the difference between it being a “right” and a “power”, as put forward by the SG, is essentially a non-argument. #Righttoprotest #ClimateCrisis #TrialByJury
https://www.judiciary.uk/judgments/hm-solicitor-general-v-warner/
'Removing #UK #ClimateProtesters’ defence ‘could [will] erode right to #TrialByJury’
#AttorneyGeneral’s attempt to end climate protesters’ use of #ConsentDefence is slippery slope, says KC'
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/21/removing-uk-climate-protesters-defence-could-erode-right-to-trial-by-jury
#Law #Justice #ToryPoliciesInAction #authoritarianism
Fantastic sight of #PeoplesAssembly facing off threats to #Democracy and #TrialbyJury #RoyalCourtsofJustice in London, UK