BURNHAM SIGNALS END TO JURY TRIAL CURBS AFTER RAISING CONCERNS

Andy Burnham has indicated he will abandon plans to curtail jury trials in England and Wales, marking a reversal of one of the most significant judicial overhauls proposed by the government. Speaking at a community centre in Sheffield on Friday, Burnham said he held "concerns" about the proposals and that his "instincts" were to preserve jury trials at the centre of the justice system. He cited his experience campaigning for justice over the Hillsborough disaster as a factor in his position. Burnham said he had asked the chief whip Anneliese Midgley to speak with Labour MP Karl Turner about his readmission to the parliamentary Labour party, following Turner's suspension over his criticisms of the proposals.

The plans, announced in December by former justice secretary David Lammy, would have prevented defendants likely to receive sentences of three years or less from accessing jury trials. Lammy argued the measures could clear a backlog of nearly 80,000 trials within a decade. The proposals also included extending magistrates' powers to handle sentences of at least 18 months, increased from one year, and establishing judge-only "swift" courts. The measures faced opposition from legal bodies and some Labour MPs.

Burnham's intervention represents the clearest signal yet that the judicial overhaul will be dropped. The prime minister has previously described the Hillsborough case as "the greatest miscarriage of justice of our times". The reversal follows Labour MP Diane Abbott's readmission to the parliamentary Labour party on Thursday after having the whip suspended under Starmer's leadership.