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The British government has abandoned its plan to limit jury trials for less serious criminal cases following widespread criticism from legal professionals and politicians. The decision was made by Prime Minister Andy Burnham in response to concerns raised about his predecessor's proposal, which aimed to address a growing backlog of nearly 81,000 cases awaiting trial as of June. While the move has been welcomed by groups like the Criminal Bar Association, they remain concerned about other changes such as increasing sentencing powers for magistrates and removing defendants' right to elect jury trials.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-03,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
In October 2023, Andy Burnham, who became Prime Minister in July, scrapped plans introduced under his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer to curtail jury trials for less serious criminal cases. The Ministry of Justice announced that only complex fraud and financial offences would now be heard before a judge alone without a jury, after facing widespread criticism from legal professionals and politicians concerned about curtailing defendants' rights and the effectiveness of the reforms in tackling the court backlog. With 80,829 pending cases at the end of June 2023, Justice Secretary Alex Norris said he made this decision based on the "strength of feeling" expressed against the proposals.
Written for “Britain Scraps Jury Curbs Plan” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 5 other(s) covering the same event.
Claims extracted
11
claim-shaped sentences
Uncertain
18%
2 of 11 hedged
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Correction & hedging signals
59.1
corrections and hedging in what we collected;
not a measure of accuracy
Outlets on this story
6
Politics
Narrative spread
1
articles carrying this framing
Britain scraps heavily criticised plans to curb jury trials after backlash
LONDON, Oct 4 -
asserted
Britain → scrap → backlash
Britain will scrap plans to remove the historic right to trial by jury for defendants in less serious criminal cases, the government announced on Sunday, in response to sustained criticism of the proposals by many lawyers and politicians.
asserted
government → scrap → lawyers
The decision by Andy Burnham, who became prime minister in July, to drop his predecessor Keir Starmer's policy comes as hundreds of prisoners were released early to stop prisons becoming full, in just one element of a criminal justice crisis.
asserted
prisons → become → crisis
Plans to curb jury trials for cases where a jail sentence was likely to be less than three years would be abandoned, the Ministry of Justice said, which was broadly welcomed by the Criminal Bar Association and other groups.
asserted
which → curb → Association
But lawyers raised concerns over the MoJ's decision to increase sentencing powers for magistrates – who hear trials for more minor offences without a jury – and the removal of defendants' right to elect trial by jury.
"I have heard the strength of feeling on the proposals for increasing the number of judge-alone trials in the Crown Court and have made the decision to change course," Justice Secretary Alex Norris said.
asserted
Norris → raise → course
CBA chair Andrew Thomas thanked the government for "listening to the evidence and reaching the right verdict", though he said "a severe threat to our trial by jury remains".
asserted
threat → thank → jury
The Bar Council's chair Kirsty Brimelow agreed, saying that giving magistrates greater powers when the backlog in magistrates' courts is increasing could be counterproductive.
uncertain
backlog → agree → courts
VICTIMS WAITING YEARS FOR JUSTICE
asserted
VICTIMS → wait → JUSTICE
The current backlog of cases awaiting trial by jury in Crown Courts in England and Wales was nearly 81,000 at the end of June, almost double the figure in 2020, and victims, defendants and witnesses often wait years for cases to come to trial.
asserted
cases → await → trial
Starmer's justice minister David Lammy last year said reducing jury trials would speed up justice, but met a furious backlash from lawyers who said it curtailed the fundamental right of defendants to be tried by a jury of their peers.
Critics also argued that years of neglect and under-investment by successive governments, rather than jury trials, were the root cause of delays, while the head of England's judiciary raised "grave security concerns" for judges.
asserted
head → say → judges
The MoJ said it would maintain plans that complex fraud trials could be heard by a judge alone, which has long been mooted to avoid jurors sitting on months-long cases, though a government-commissioned review this year rejected the idea.
uncertain
review → say → idea
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