Sheffielders to protest outside the Crown Court to protect the right to Trial by Jury

800 years, one bill. The Labour Government is dismantling a cornerstone of the British Constitution, one jury at a time.

by The Jury Alliance

The Jury Alliance is to host a national campaigning day of action outside over 30 crown courts across England and Wales. [1]

On Monday, May 18th at 8.45am, local people will gather at Sheffield Crown Court to demonstrate opposition to the government’s attack on trial by jury. Juries are a fundamentally local issue. Juries are made up of 12 randomly selected local people. They reflect the local community and provide a vital, common-sense check on the law. 

Sean Ashton from Sheffield and one of those taking part outside Sheffield Crown Court, said, “The juries are a vital part of our legal system. I am protesting today to make it clear to the Labour Government that they cannot get away with this.”

The Jury Alliance is a new public campaigning group, aiming to raise public awareness and demonstrate the strength of public opposition to the government’s plans to limit trial by jury. [2]

Since the Justice Secretary’s announcement in December last year that the right to trial by jury would be removed from tens of thousands of cases, in order to reduce the backlog crisis in the criminal justice system, the government continues to rush through this new legislation.

If passed, the Courts and Tribunals Bill, currently at the Report stage, will see a single judge replacing a jury, 12 randomly selected members of the public, for all cases in the Crown Court where a prison sentence of three years or less is expected.

Flora Page K.C. , the barrister who overturned wrongful convictions in the Post Office Horizon scandal, recently resigned from the Legal Services Board, the independent regulator of legal services in England and Wales so she could oppose the changes. [2]

In her resignation letter to the Justice Secretary she said: 

“I am sorry to say that I believe the backlog is a cynical cover, something that the officials have worked on intentionally to give you and Ms Sackman the ammunition you feel you need to take aim at jury trial. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

Sir Geoffrey Cox KC – a practising criminal barrister of 44 years – told the House of Commons during the second reading debate: 

“Jury trial is the most powerful instrument and engine of social justice that this country has ever invented. It is a safeguard against oppression. It is a built-in defence against establishment and administrative power…At a time when our institutions are under unprecedented attack, is now the time to transfer a massive trunk of the administration of criminal justice to a representative who will unquestionably be seen as a representative of the state?”

Notes

Contact: press@thejuryalliance.uk

Photos and videos from Sheffield will be available here after the event


[1] https://thejuryalliance.uk/ The Jury Alliance is a campaigning group looking to publicise the government’s attacks on juries and oppose the attacks

[2]Background

Since 1215, when Article 39 of Magna Carta established that no free person could be imprisoned or stripped of their rights except by “the lawful judgment of their equals,” the right to be judged by your peers has been the constitutional bedrock of English criminal justice.

David Lammy, the Justice Secretary, spoke against the removal of jury trials when he was in opposition. He also pointed out that the people from minority ethnic groups get fairer treatment by juries than by magistrates or a single judge in his landmark Lammy review. 

The changes are widely disliked by the legal profession, including solicitors, barristers and judges. 

The court backlog currently stands at 80,000 cases. Between 2010 and 2019 the government closed over half of all courts. Until this year, the government limited the number of days that judges could hear cases, called sitting days, to save money

The U-turn 

In a whiplash-inducing U-turn, David Lammy, having opposed the removal of juries in opposition, is now proposing halving the number of jury trials. This measure didn’t appear in the Labour Party manifesto and as such, has no electoral mandate. Given the local elections results, if anything, the people have rejected these and Labour’s other policies. 

The government claims that the measure is to address the backlog, but figures show that with the removal of the limit on sitting days, the court backlog is starting to reduce.

What’s in the Bill

The Courts and Tribunals Bill, introduced to Parliament on 25 February 2026 and passed at second reading on 10 March by 304 votes to 203, removes for the first time a defendant’s right to elect Crown Court trial in either-way cases. Cases where the likely sentence is three years or less would be heard by a single judge – no jury, no community voice, no democratic check on the state.

Ministers have compared this to the system in Canada, except that in Canada, you have the choice to opt for a judge-only trial. As such, the British system, removing all choice (even for judges), is the complete opposite of the Canadian system. 

[3] Listen to Flora Page KC talk about the future of juries and why Labour’s plans won’t work and are so dangerous on this podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s06-ep8-the-future-of-juries/id1508061420?i=1000766344895 (You can skip the first 11 minutes of chat)