The Justice Secretary, attempting to tackle chronic court backlogs, is to propose that juries will only decide murder, rape, manslaughter and other serious offences carrying possible prison sentences of more than five years.
Lone judges will preside over trials of other serious offences meriting sentences of up to five years, removing the rights of thousands of defendants to be heard before a jury.
Mr Lammy will also increase magistrates’ powers. He will broaden their remit from offences carrying a maximum sentence of one year to two years, further eroding the right to a jury trial.
The plans go further than the recommendations suggested by Sir Brian Leveson in a report commissioned by Shabana Mahmood, Mr Lammy’s predecessor.
He had proposed that there should be an intermediate court comprising a judge and two magistrates for mid-range offences.
The reforms, expected to be outlined next week, put Mr Lammy on a collision course with the legal profession.
Suella Braverman, a former home secretary and attorney general, said: “This is a serious assault on our liberty. Trial by your peers is a fundamental right in our democracy, and goes to the core of who we are as a nation.”...<<<Read More>>>....
