Oral Answers to Questions

Jonathan Brash Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)]

13. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of his proposed reforms to jury trials on the court backlog.

[Mr Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

19. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the proposal to restrict the right to a jury trial for certain offences on court backlogs.

[The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Mr David Lammy)]

As I have said, our focus is on victims who are being left to wait three, four or five years for their day in court. That is why I will bring forward bold change to fix the rotting Courts Service that we inherited, deliver record investment in our courts so that they can sit for more days than ever before, introduce modernisation to deal with the inefficiencies that we inherited, and reform the system so that we can triage which trials get a jury and stop criminals gaming the system.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Lammy]

The Courts Minister and the Prisons Minister are working together on this issue. Sir Brian Leveson will have more to say tomorrow in part 2 of his report, on efficiencies, but one of the things that we are looking at is local authorities opening bus lanes to those drivers, so that they can speed through.

[Mr Brash]

I recognise the Justice Secretary’s sincere commitment to tackling the court backlog that was disgracefully left by Conservative and Reform politicians. However, one of the most troubling aspects of the proposals on jury trials is the suggestion that the changes will be permanent, regardless of whether the backlog persists. Will he consider explicitly making these measures temporary and subject to review, so that their impact, if any, on reducing the court backlog can be properly assessed?

[Mr Lammy]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that, but may I refer him to Sir Brian’s report, and to his article in The Sunday Times this weekend? He talks about trials being longer, DNA evidence, the fact that we are passing more legislation in this place, and the police arresting more people. For all those reasons, and if we are serious about tackling the backlog and getting to a properly established system in which people do not wait much longer than six months to a year for their trial, the changes that we are making have to be permanent.