David Lammy MP, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (pictured), is proposing a major reduction in jury trials, and in doing so has adopted the mantra that there is no right to jury trial, which features prominently in Sir Brian Leveson’s recent report on the criminal courts.
Sir Brian, a former President of the Queen’s Bench Division and Lord Justice of Appeal, writes:
‘Most often, the resistance to reforming the right to elect [trial by jury] has centred on whether a defendant has a constitutional “right” to a jury. I make clear my position that there is no… constitutional or common law right to a trial by jury, with the result that there is no basis for this to limit any approach to necessary reform. It is on this premise that I proceed with my subsequent recommendations [on removing and limiting jury trials]’ (‘Independent Review of the Criminal Courts’, Pt 1, Ch 5, p143,
