David Lammy: ‘Perhaps Robert Jenrick sees his job as sharing disinformation’
David Lammy explains his reasons for scrapping jury trials for court cases in England and Wales for lower level crimes, accusing Tory MP Robert Jenrick of spreading “disinformation” about the changes he’s making.
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In brief…
- Justice secretary David Lammy says the shadow justice sec Robert Jenrick “perhaps” believes his job is to spread disinformation, after a social media attack on his plans to change who gets a jury trial in England and Wales.
- Crimes with a sentence of three years or less will automatically be decided by a magistrate.
- Lammy blames 14 years of Tory austerity for the lack of investment in the justice system, and says this is also to blame for the increase of prisoners being released by accident.
What’s the story?
David Lammy, Secretary of State for Justice, has accused Tory front-bencher Robert Jenrick of spreading disinformation relating to his plans to reform the criminal justice system in England and Wales.
This week Lammy announced plans for 'swift courts', saying they are "necessary" to clear an enormous backlog in cases waiting to go to trial, and will see jury trials scrapped in cases with a likely sentence of three years or less.
Serious cases, such as murder and rape, will still be tried by jury, with an estimated six out of every ten alleged rape victims withdrawing from legal proceedings due to years-long waits for trial.
Tory shadow justice minister Robert Jenrick accused Lammy of 'tearing up the Magna Carta', which drew up some of England's laws in 1215 – while others have argued that England and Wales shouldn't be basing the justice system on 800-year-old documents.
For Jenrick’s criticism to work, Lammy says, it would need to mean that everyone in England and Wales already received a trial by jury – when in reality, it’s only around 3% of cases.
“Perhaps Robert Jenrick sees his job as putting disinformation out there, in order to run his argument,” Lammy says.
He adds that if Jenrick was the justice minister, he would be making the exact same changes.
But if such a small number of cases will be affected by Lammy’s changes, why is this 3% so important?
‘Rape victims are priority under new system’
Lammy’s changes will apply to cases of minor theft, fly-tipping and some incidents of assault – and he says that his focus at this moment are the cases which are currently not making it to trial.
“If you elect to have a jury, these cases can take two days,” Lammy says.
“That case is holding up the rape case, the murder case – so now that group of cases will go to the single judge.”
There has also been criticism of the lack of diversity among the legal system – with most barristers and magistrates being white, and older.
Lammy says more money will be invested to recruit new magistrates, and claims 31% of those working in London are already from an ethnic minority background.
“We've got to recognise that austerity has happened,” he adds.
“We have got this huge backlog. A woman should not be waiting three or four years for a rape case to come on. It is unacceptable that 60% are dropping out and we can do something about it.
“Justice has been chronically underinvested in.”
‘Less optimism in the UK than my previous time in government’
Lammy says his trial reforms will do nothing to prevent the accidental release of prisoners – with a revelation this week that 12 inmates had been released in error, with two remaining on the run.
This, he says, is again due to the lack of investment into the prisons in England and Wales under 14 years of Tory government.
"There have always been errors in releases, but there has been a spike over the last four to five years," Lammy says.
"The reason there's been a spike is because we have a prison capacity crisis."
Since Labour came to power in July 2024, the actions of consecutive Tory leaders such as Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak has been blamed by Labour for its own inaction in addressing the cost of living crisis facing every person in the UK.
The $55 billion 'black hole' allegedly uncovered by Labour after coming to power loomed large over Rachel Reeves' recent budget – and Lammy admits that in this government, his second, things are far harder than his first.
"It does feel very different to when I served as a junior minister under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown," he says.
"It was a period of growth, a period of investment in public services – it was a much more optimistic period in Britain."