Oral Answers to Questions

Mark Francois Excerpts

Thursday 18th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dame Caroline Dinenage (Gosport) (Con)]

1. What advice she has given the Government on the potential impact of removing jury trials on the rule of law.

[Mr Mark Francois (Rayleigh and Wickford) (Con)]

4. What advice she has given the Government on the potential impact of removing jury trials on the rule of law.

[Nick Timothy (West Suffolk) (Con)]

7. What advice she has given the Government on the potential impact of removing jury trials on the rule of law.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Solicitor General]

Justice delayed is justice denied. The previous Conservative Government allowed this crisis to develop in our criminal courts, with rape victims waiting up to three years for their cases to be heard. On appeals, Sir Brian Leveson recommended a permission stage on appeal, which would mean that appeal claims with merit will have the opportunity to be heard.

[Mr Francois]

Merry Christmas, Mr Speaker.

I am sure the Solicitor General is aware of Operation Nova, which is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and assists veterans who come into contact with the criminal justice system, so may I set her a theoretical challenge? Let us assume that an Op Nova veteran who fought in Afghanistan goes out one evening and is assaulted in a bar, perhaps by someone who does not like soldiers very much, but the situation is confused, and the soldier—the veteran—ends up in the dock. Should not that person, who fought for his country in a war zone and in this country’s uniform, be entitled to put his defence in front of a jury of his peers?

[The Solicitor General]

Jury trials make up 3% of cases currently heard in the criminal courts. It is important for both victims and defendants that they are not waiting years and years for their cases to get to court, which is happening as a result of the crisis that the previous Government left us in. The most serious cases will still be heard by juries—for example, rape, murder and grievous bodily harm cases—and it is important that justice is delivered swiftly.