Labour is reportedly preparing to abandon plans to introduce a new system of judge-only courts, following months of opposition from lawyers and concern among its own MPs.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham is considering dropping one of the most controversial elements of the Courts and Tribunals Bill drawn up under his predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, according to The Telegraph.
But the retreat would not amount to a complete abandonment of Labour’s proposed restrictions on access to jury trials.
The Government is still considering removing the existing right of defendants accused of “either-way” offences to choose to have their case heard in the Crown Court.
That means Labour could ditch the proposed new judge-only Bench Division while pressing ahead with another substantial change to the way criminal cases are allocated in England and Wales.
The original Bill, introduced in February, proposed removing defendants’ right to elect Crown Court trial for either-way offences, extending magistrates’ sentencing powers and creating a new Crown Court Bench Division in which certain cases carrying likely sentences of three years or less could be heard by a judge without a jury.
It represented one of the biggest proposed changes to the criminal courts in decades.
Now, according to The Telegraph, Mr Burnham is preparing to ditch the Bench Division proposal as his Government attempts to avoid a potentially damaging rebellion among Labour MPs.
However, ministers are still considering taking away a defendant’s ability to insist on Crown Court trial for either-way offences.
Under the proposals, the courts rather than defendants would determine where those cases should be heard.
Either-way offences cover a broad range of crimes which, depending upon their seriousness and circumstances, can currently be dealt with either by magistrates or in the Crown Court.
The most serious offences, including murder, manslaughter and rape, would continue to be dealt with in the Crown Court.
The controversy comes as Britain’s criminal courts struggle with an enormous backlog.
A House of Commons Justice Committee report published in June said there were more than 80,000 outstanding Crown Court cases at the end of December 2025, with some cases being listed as far ahead as 2030. The committee warned that the delays were harming victims, defendants and witnesses.
Labour argues that structural reform is necessary to reduce pressure on the Crown Court and get cases heard more quickly.
Its original proposals were based on recommendations from Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, and the Ministry of Justice has argued that removing the defendant’s right to elect Crown Court trial would help ensure cases are dealt with in the appropriate jurisdiction.
But critics argue that ministers are reaching for fundamental changes to jury trials rather than fixing the practical failures contributing to delays throughout the justice system.
The legal profession has also raised serious objections to the reforms.
Andrew Thomas KC, chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, has challenged the case for restricting jury trials and argued that other measures should be used to tackle delays.
The reported change of direction by Mr Burnham follows months of political resistance to the proposals.
The Telegraph reports that between 60 and 90 Labour MPs had previously expressed concerns or threatened to rebel over the restrictions. One Labour rebel told the newspaper that abandoning the judge-only court proposal would substantially reduce the scale of a potential revolt, although they would remain opposed to removing defendants’ right to elect Crown Court trial.
Mr Burnham had already signalled reservations about his predecessor’s approach before entering Downing Street, saying his instinct was not to reduce access to jury trial.
His Justice Secretary, Alex Norris, has since made clear that changes to the Bill are possible.
Speaking in the Commons this week, Mr Norris declined to guarantee that restrictions on jury trials would disappear altogether, saying legislation “very rarely looks the same at the beginning of the process as it does at the end”. The Courts and Tribunals Bill is due to return to the Commons on October 13.
Shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy has accused Labour of continuing to restrict access to jury trials despite Mr Burnham previously describing them as a “lynchpin of a fair society”.
The Government, meanwhile, says it inherited a criminal justice system in crisis and maintains that reform is necessary to reduce the backlog and shorten the years-long waits faced by some victims.
For Labour, however, the reported retreat leaves an awkward political question.
Having proposed sweeping changes to the way jury trials operate in an attempt to tackle the courts crisis, the new Labour administration now appears ready to discard one of the central measures devised under Sir Keir, while retaining another restriction which has itself attracted considerable opposition.
The judge-only court may be heading for the scrapheap, but the argument over Labour’s plans for jury trials is far from over.
