Lammy is cancelling jury trials for all but the most serious criminal cases. There is always a tweet, or, in Lammy’s case, about eight…
Jenrick has dug out one in which the now-Justice Secretary said “jury trials are a fundamental part of our democratic settlement.” Lammy was in fact the key backer of a campaign against efforts to roll back jury trials…
Lammy also took part in a Channel 4 documentary about a Tory proposal to scale back the use of jury trials. He said:
“The jury system is fundamental to our constitutional arrangement. We should not use the coronavirus as a cover to abandon juries which is the opportunity to be judged by 12 of your peers. Juries being place replaced by judges and magistrates is effectively the establishment rather than your peers who live in your community deciding what justice should be.”
Another tweet:
“Robert Buckland is wrong to consider proposals to limit jury trials for certain offences. The right to trial by your fellow citizens is fundamental to our democracy. It would be wrong of the government to abandon this valuable tradition for short-term benefit.”
He also penned an entire piece in the Telegraph about it (“Jury trials are fundamental to our democracy. We must protect them.” Five years later…
