UK Scraps Plan to Curb Jury Trials

Britain's government has abandoned plans to strip away jury trials for less serious criminal cases, in a major U-turn announced on October 4, 2026. The decision, reported by Reuters, reverses a policy introduced under former prime minister Keir Starmer that would have ended jury trials for defendants facing likely prison sentences of under three years.

Justice Secretary Alex Norris confirmed the reversal, saying he had heard "the strength of feeling" about proposals to expand judge-alone trials in the Crown Court and had decided to "change course," according to Reuters. The announcement marks a sharp break from the previous administration's approach to a justice system in crisis: Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who took over from Starmer in July 2026, is dropping a policy that had become a lightning rod for anger among lawyers and politicians.

The abandoned plan was unveiled in December of last year by then-justice secretary David Lammy, who argued that removing jury trials for lower-level cases would speed up the courts. Under the proposal, jury trials would have been reserved for the most serious "indictable" offences, such as murder and rape, with other cases heard by a single Crown Court judge, as reported by Sky News. The plan cleared its first Commons hurdle earlier this year — but not without casualties: Labour MP Karl Turner had the party whip suspended after criticising it.

Why the plan to limit jury trials fell apart

According to Reuters, Norris said the decision followed the fierce reaction to curbing jury trials. Criminal Bar Association chair Andrew Thomas thanked the government for "listening to the evidence and reaching the right verdict," while warning that "a severe threat to our trial by jury remains." Thomas told Sky News that nothing inspires more public trust than twelve ordinary citizens deciding the facts of a case together.

But the welcome was cautious. Lawyers also objected to the other pieces of the package: increased sentencing powers for magistrates, who hear trials without juries, and the removal of defendants' right to elect a Crown Court jury trial for "either-way" offences — with courts now having the final say on where such cases go, as reported by Sky News. Thomas warned that magistrates' courts "simply cannot cope" with thousands more sensitive cases, citing shortages of magistrates, legal advisers and resources. The Bar Council's chair, Kirsty Brimelow, said that giving magistrates greater powers while the backlog in magistrates' courts keeps growing could be counterproductive, according to Reuters.

The court backlog behind the fight

The original plan was sold as the answer to a record court backlog. At the end of June 2026, there were 80,829 cases still to be dealt with in the Crown Court, according to the most recent Ministry of Justice figures — nearly double the level recorded in 2020. Victims, defendants and witnesses often wait years for cases to come to trial. Courts minister Sarah Sackman has said the backlog could take "nearly 300 years" to clear to pre-COVID levels without reform, according to Sky News.

The backlog is only one part of a wider crisis. Hundreds of prisoners have been released early to stop prisons becoming full, Reuters reported. Critics argue that years of underinvestment and neglect — not the right to a jury — are to blame for the delays, a point lawyers made repeatedly in opposing Lammy's proposals to scale back jury trials.

What stays — and what it means for you

Not everything was dropped. While jury trials will continue for most Crown Court cases, the Ministry of Justice will keep its plan to have complex fraud cases heard by a judge alone, even though a government-commissioned review earlier this year rejected that idea, according to Voice of Nigeria's report on the decision. The increased magistrates' powers also stand. The changes will be made through the Courts and Tribunals Bill, due back in Parliament later this month. Turner told the Press Association that Norris had "rightly binned" what he called the unworkable plans pursued under Starmer, but warned the government would face opposition in the House of Lords if its eventual proposals undermine fair trials or access to justice, as reported by Sky News.

For ordinary people, the U-turn preserves one of the oldest rights in English law: the right to be tried by a jury of your peers. But the system those juries serve is still struggling — if you are a victim or a witness, you may still wait years for your day in court. The deeper fight, over how to clear the backlog without trading away fair-trial rights, is far from over. Expect jury trials to stay in the headlines as the Bill moves through Parliament. For more on Burnham's first months in power, read our piece on his comments on rejoining the EU, and explore the politics topic page for the rest of our coverage.