Oral Answers to Questions

Neil Shastri-Hurst Excerpts

Thursday 4th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Solicitor General]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that question—I know that he is a huge champion on these issues. I was really pleased to secure that £5 million investment to enable victims of domestic abuse in the Crown court to be offered meetings with the prosecution team before a case gets to trial and to have the benefit of dedicated victim liaison officer.

We know that attrition rates in these cases are still too high. That is why we are doing everything we can to bring them down. In Wales, for example, a domestic abuse charging pilot is going on, which enables the police to charge in some domestic abuse cases. We are seeing that significantly shorten the amount of time it takes to get a case into court, and we know that the quicker a case gets to court, the lower the attrition rate is likely to be. We are doing everything we can to tackle this issue.

[Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst (Solihull West and Shirley) (Con)]

4. What advice she has provided to the Government on the potential impact of restricting the right to jury trials on the rule of law.

[The Solicitor General]

This Government inherited a justice system in crisis, with a backlog of 80,000 criminal cases in the Crown court. That is why we are investing over £2.5 billion in our courts to fund unlimited sitting days, boost legal aid and, ultimately, speed up justice for victims. Let me be clear: jury trials will remain a cornerstone of our justice system, but justice delayed is justice denied.

[Dr Shastri-Hurst]

Imagine a scenario in which two individuals are both charged with the same offence and the factual matrix of each case is identical. However, the first defendant has a string of previous convictions, whereas the second has none. Under the Government’s proposal, the first defendant would be able to elect for a jury trial, depending on the length of the potential sentence, whereas the second would not. How does that align with the Solicitor General’s assessment of the rule of law?

[The Solicitor General]

Access to a jury trial is determined by the seriousness of the alleged offending, not by who the defendant is. As the hon. Gentleman will know, likely sentence is already used to determine court allocation and is a feature of our system. Every defendant in the Crown court will receive a fair trial, and that is not affected by the mode of trial decision.

Oral Answers to Questions

Neil Shastri-Hurst Excerpts

Thursday 19th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

2. Whether the Attorney General has advised the Lord Chancellor on the potential impact of the Courts and Tribunals Bill on the rule of law.

[Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst (Solihull West and Shirley) (Con)]

8. Whether the Attorney General has advised the Lord Chancellor on the potential impact of the Courts and Tribunals Bill on the rule of law.

[Martin Vickers (Brigg and Immingham) (Con)]

9. Whether the Attorney General has advised the Lord Chancellor on the potential impact of the Courts and Tribunals Bill on the rule of law.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Solicitor General]

The reforms that the right hon. Gentleman refers to come after Sir Brian Leveson set out a report with 135 recommendations, making it clear that investment in the justice system alone would not solve the backlog left by the previous Conservative Government and that reform is also needed. Estimates show that it will reduce cases by 20%, although, given the modelling from Canada, those are likely conservative estimates.

[Dr Shastri-Hurst]

The contentious element of the Courts and Tribunals Bill relates to the proposed changes to jury trials. It has united the legal profession, the Opposition Benches and a significant number of Government MPs. To avoid the embarrassment of Government MPs coming out and defending the policy only to face a U-turn, can the Solicitor General give a categorical assurance to those on her own Benches that there will be no U-turn or watering down of this folly of a policy?

[The Solicitor General]

I am sure the hon. Gentleman listened to what the Deputy Prime Minister had to say at Justice questions two days ago. The reality is that the last Conservative Government left the justice system on its knees, with a backlog of 80,000 cases, which, without both investment and reform, will simply go up. That is why we are funding unlimited sitting days, increasing spending on criminal defence lawyers and investing in the crumbling courts that the last Government left behind. But Sir Brian was clear that investment alone would not tackle the backlog sufficiently, and that is why radical reform is also needed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Neil Shastri-Hurst Excerpts

Thursday 19th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst (Solihull West and Shirley) (Con)]

I congratulate the Solicitor General on taking up her position. As a former trauma surgeon, I have seen at first hand the devastating effect of knife and other serious violent crime, so I welcome the Government’s specific commitment to halving knife crime within a decade. However, on the broader commitment on serious violent crime, no specifics have been provided to date. Will the Solicitor General tell the House which crimes are to be included, and the date by which that will be achieved?

[The Solicitor General]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that knife crime is still too high—more than 50,000 instances in the year to June 2024. He is also right to highlight that this Government are taking strong action to combat knife crime. We know that effective local policing is vital to tackling knife crime, which is why we are putting 13,000 more police and police community support officers on our streets, because we are determined to make our streets safe. The Home Secretary has also commissioned a rapid review to understand how these weapons are sold online and delivered to under-18s and identify gaps in legislation and the most effective ways to stop this.

Oral Answers to Questions

Neil Shastri-Hurst Excerpts

Thursday 12th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Solicitor General]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight the incredibly distressing figures. As I said before, the human stories that lie behind them will each tell a tragic tale, which is why tackling this issue is at the heart of this Government’s agenda. I am happy to meet my hon. Friend and her local chief Crown prosecutor, Jonathan Storer, to discuss this serious issue and look at how we can improve joint working between the CPS and the police.

[Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst (Solihull West and Shirley) (Con)]

May I congratulate the Solicitor General on her appointment?

Among the most serious offences involving women and girls are rape and serious sexual offences. Once victims come forward, there are often delays in their cases being heard, and a frequent driver of that is the difficulty in getting sufficiently experienced counsel. A major driver of that is the gap between the fees for prosecuting and defending counsel. Does the Solicitor General agree that there is an urgent need to plug that gap?

[The Solicitor General]

We know that the availability of sufficiently experienced prosecutors is a problem that needs to be looked at. That is why, in appropriate cases, we are looking at using associate prosecutors to clear the backlog in our courts more generally, but for the most serious crimes of rape and violence against women and girls, we need specialist prosecutors. The Government will be looking closely at both recruitment and retention.