Barristers on the North Eastern Circuit (the legal region covering Yorkshire and the North East) have strongly opposed the Government’s plans to restrict jury trials by engaging with local MPs at Crown Courts in the region, and in Westminster.
The events were organised as part of the ‘Justice needs juries’ campaign, spearheaded by barristers who argue that delays in the courts are not due to juries, but due to chronic under-investment in the system.
MPs were invited to attend in Sheffield, Leeds and Kingston upon Hull Crown Courts to show them around the court buildings, meet with court staff, and talk with barristers in the robing rooms about Government proposals to remove the right to elect for jury trials in cases where the sentence may be up to three years. Further visits are planned for Newcastle, Bradford, York and Teesside. The visits were a success, with first-hand accounts being provided of impact that the lack of investment and dramatic cuts has wrought over the years.
Chair of the Bar Council, Kirsty Brimelow KC, visited Leeds Crown Court with Fabian Hamilton MP (Labour, Leeds North East), Sir Alec Shelbrooke MP (Conservative, Wetherby and Easingwold), and Anna Dixon MP (Labour, Shipley).
North Eastern Circuit Leader, Caroline Goodwin KC, attended Sheffield Crown Court with Toby Perkins MP (Labour, Chesterfield) and Abtisam Mohamed MP (Labour, Sheffield Central), along with caseworkers from Clive Betts MP’s office (Labour, Sheffield South East).
Karl Turner MP (Labour, Kingston upon Hull East) attended Hull Crown Court and was warmly welcomed by the Hull Bar, who collectively engaged on the issues faced.
The constituency court day took place across England and Wales with around 20 MPs visiting 10 Crown Courts – at least one in each of the 6 circuits (legal regions).
In terms of bearing down on the backlog, Leeds, Sheffield and Hull Crown Courts are performing better than the national average. Between 2024 and 2025, the overall backlog in England and Wales increased by 9.3% to 79,619. In the same time period, the backlog in Leeds increased by just 0.1% and in Sheffield by 2.5%. In Hull the backlog decreased by 6.9%.
Alongside the Bar Council, which represents 18,000 barristers across England and Wales, and the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), which represents barristers specialising in crime, North Eastern Circuit barristers then travelled to Westminster to meet with their local MPs.
There they spoke about the problems in the criminal justice system and asked MPs not to support proposals to curtail juries as it is draining energy and diverting focus from implementing the changes that can be shown to bring down the Crown Court backlog now.
North Eastern Circuit Leader Caroline Goodwin KC said:
The strength of feeling among barristers across the whole of the North East – and indeed the country – is clear: we oppose plans to restrict jury trials for both principled and practical reasons. The proposals lack cohesion and investment.
We all want to see the backlog in the courts brought down for the sake of complainants, witnesses and defendants, as well as those working in the system. But juries did not cause the backlog and research shows that reducing them is not the answer.
As we see in Leeds and Sheffield, strong case management and greater efficiencies can make a difference. We need greater investment across the system to tackle the issues that cause delays – defendants repeatedly brought late to court, crumbling buildings that can’t be used, and a limit placed on the number of days judges can sit, thus leaving court rooms empty
I am especially proud that barristers practising in the North Eastern Circuit have taken the time to meet with their MPs – both in the region and in London –we have a voice and we are using it to underline the fact that justice needs juries.
Tom Gordon MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough said:
Trial by jury has been a cornerstone of our justice system for over 800 years, and the Liberal Democrats are resolute in defending it.
Years of complacency under the former Conservative Government have driven the criminal justice system into crisis, with victims left waiting years for their day in court. Their mismanagement allowed court backlogs to balloon, creating an urgent need for real reform to deliver the justice people deserve.
Crown Courts now face record delays, but that failure must not be used as a pretext to weaken the fundamental right to a fair trial. As David Lammy himself said in 2020, jury trials are a cornerstone of our democracy, and scrapping them would be a mistake.
What’s required is a serious plan to fix the system: increasing court sitting days, making better use of empty courtrooms, repairing broken private contracts that leave defendants stranded in prison vans, and investing in rehabilitation to cut reoffending. That is how we reduce the backlog – without taking a sledgehammer to trial by jury.
