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Michael Zander KC reports on the Bill’s final stage in the House of Commons, as the retreat over jury trials leaves other battles looming
- The Courts and Tribunals Bill reaches the Lords with plans to remove defendants’ right to elect jury trial intact, despite the government abandoning its proposed judge-only Crown Court trials.
- Questions remain over magistrates’ capacity and legal aid provision, while the article argues removing the right to elect is central to hopes of the Bill's provisions significantly reducing the backlog.
The Courts and Tribunals Bill completed its passage in the Commons last week, on Tuesday 13 October. The third reading of a Bill is normally a brief non-event, but this was quite a lively three-hour debate ending with the defeat by large majorities of opposition amendments and the adoption without a vote of various government amendments.
The government got general approval for abandoning the widely criticised centrepiece of the Bill—clause 3, the provision for trial by judge sitting without a jury in either-way Crown Court cases. The government, MPs
