Keir Starmer is continuing with Tory austerity and failing to issue enough funds to maintain the justice system in the UK. Instead, justice secretary Shabana Mahmood commissioned a report from Brian Leveson that has resulted in the former judge recommending an end to the right to trial by jury.

A form of the right to trial by jury dates back to the 12th Century. And the 1215 Magna Carta stated that no man should be imprisoned “except by the lawful judgment of his peers” or ” by the law of the land”.

Keir Starmer: creating a “fascist state”

Commenting on the report, former UK ambassador Craig Murray said:

Getting rid of juries is an essential step on the road to a fascist state.

Under the recommendations, the right to fair trial would be removed for serious crimes such as child abduction among others. Also, trial by judge alone would be implemented for serious and complex fraud cases.

The previous Conservative government cut the justice department’s budget by 25% from 2010-2020. While Starmer has increased funding by around 30% he hasn’t patched up a decade of cuts and is overall failing to deliver enough funds to fix the legal system.

Indeed, funding is still 24% lower per person than in 2008. Through public ownership of utilities, bills for energy, water, broadband, rail and mail etc would all go to the public purse, rebalancing the economy in favour of struggling departments like justice.

Richard Atkinson, the president of the Law Society, said:

The government [will] have undermined our historic jury system for no effect. Only investment in the whole system has any chance of success – from when a criminal prosecution starts in the police station, and at all stages before a crown court case.

Barbara Mills KC, chair of the Bar Council, said:

Changing the fundamental structure of delivering criminal justice is not a principled response to a crisis which was not caused by that structure in the first place. As… Brian recognises, it is the failure to invest properly in the justice system over decades that has led to the crisis we see in the criminal courts today. Juries represent society and are a fundamental part of our system

“Miscarriages of justice”, especially for BME people

Matt Foot, the co-director of the charity Appeal, pointed out:

Reducing jury rights will inevitably increase the number of miscarriages of justice. We know that judges tend to be privately educated and white, which is a long way away from the makeup of juries. To reduce jury rights at the time when we know through the [Louise] Casey review that we have serious problems within the police of racism and homophobia and such is completely unjustified.

Tyrone Steele, deputy legal director at Justice, added:

Everyone deserves a fair trial, free from discrimination. Jury trial is an important means of safeguarding this right and ensuring confidence in our criminal courts. Racialised defendants tried before a jury are convicted at very similar rates to their white counterparts. In contrast, worrying disparities exist in magistrates courts’ convictions. Black women, for example, are 22% more likely to be found guilty at the magistrates court than white women. The government should be cautious about introducing an intermediate court, which could result in a worsening of public trust and confidence at a time when it is needed most.

Only 1% of judges in England and Wales are black. And a 2022 Manchester University study found the judiciary in England and Wales to be “institutionally racist”. Polling of 373 legal professionals in the report found that 56% had observed a judge being racially discriminatory towards a defendant.

Featured image via the Canary

By James Wright

This post was originally published on Canary.