Prime Minister faces House of Lords rebellion over jury trial reforms

Max Thompson, Campaigns Officer

26 October 2026

Tomorrow, the Courts and Tribunals Bill goes before peers in the House of Lords for its second reading. This is the piece of legislation that contains the deeply controversial plans to limit access to trial by jury.

David Lammy, while serving as Secretary of State for Justice under Sir Keir Starmer, announced plans to slash our right to a jury trial, claiming that it was the only way to bring down the backlog of cases in the Crown Court. He did so despite providing no credible evidence to support his claim, and despite the Institute for Government finding that the reforms would save only around 2 per cent of Crown Court time, not the 20 per cent that ministers had promised.

Since becoming Prime Minister in July, Andy Burnham has dropped David Lammy's plan for judge-only trials, after facing the prospect of his first backbench rebellion in the House of Commons. While he may have thought this would be enough to quell dissent in Labour ranks, he is still pressing ahead with proposals to cut the number of cases that go before a jury in the Crown Court.

David Lammy's plans are still very much alive and kicking. The reforms are expected to reduce the number of jury trials by a third, to just 10,000 a year.

Jury trials are a cornerstone of our criminal justice system and a bulwark against a repressive state and an increasingly militant cancel-culture mob. Ahead of the Bill coming before peers, a number of senior members of the House of Lords have told The Telegraph that they are seriously concerned about the plans.

One senior Labour peer told The Telegraph: "I am still very much concerned about [the loss of the right to elect]. It's a restriction on the right to a jury trial which, call me old-fashioned, I think is so important."

Zoe Bantleman, a legal director at the legal reform charity JUSTICE, said: "The Courts and Tribunals Bill could face its toughest test yet in the Lords. Peers can see that the revised plans would still result in thousands of defendants losing access to jury trials, and risk pushing the ill-equipped magistrates' courts to breaking point. The Government would be wise to reconsider and focus on measures that will genuinely cut backlogs, like repairing our crumbling courts."

In its briefing to peers, JUSTICE highlighted that the Government's plans to end the right to elect, restrict access to jury trials, and increase magistrates' powers did not reflect the proposals of the Government's own independent review, chaired by Lord Leveson.

The Free Speech Union is concerned that these reforms will undermine public trust in the criminal justice system and see more people banged up for exercising their right to free speech. Since the reforms were announced last December, the Free Speech Union has campaigned fiercely for the Government to guarantee our right to a jury trial.

Last week, members of the Free Speech Union team descended on Downing Street to deliver our petition to save jury trials, which had nearly 50,000 signatories.

Research by the Free Speech Union has shown that those charged with speech-related offences are almost twice as likely to be acquitted in a Crown Court with a jury as in a magistrates' court without one. Put simply, if David Lammy's reforms get through, more people will be locked up for simply exercising their right to free speech.

It is also very important to remember that the plans to slash our ancient right to a jury trial were not included in Labour's 2024 general election manifesto.

Read more in The Telegraph.