Magistrates’ sentencing powers will be increased from one year to 18 months, and could be extended to 24 months if necessary.
Lammy’s plans, delivered in Parliament this week, build on Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. While Sir Brian proposed an extra court tier where a judge sits alongside two magistrates, Lammy plans to introduce a judge-only ‘swift’ court.
Law Society vice president Brett Dixon said the government’s proposals ‘go too far in eroding our fundamental right to be judged by a jury of our own peers.
‘Allowing a single judge, operating in an under resourced system, to decide guilt in a serious and potentially life changing case is a dramatic departure from our shared values.’
The latest government figures for April to June 2025 showed 78,329 outstanding cases in the Crown Court and 361,027 in the magistrates’ court. Lammy told MPs the backlog is projected to rise above 100,000 cases.
However, David Corker, consultant at Corker Binning, said the government should have adopted the Canadian and Australian model in serious fraud cases of giving the accused ‘the right to choose to be tried by a judge or by a jury.
‘Defendants in complex cases in those jurisdictions predominantly opt for the former, and having done so, the outcomes attract their and the public’s confidence’.
Mark Jones, partner at Payne Hicks Beach, said: ‘Court delays stem from long-term underfunding, not juries.
‘If the government is serious about reducing the backlog, it must invest in the justice system rather than weaken a defendant’s right to elect to be judged by their peers.’
Matthew Hardcastle, partner at Kingsley Napley, said: ‘The continued “silver-bullet” and headline driven approach to change is deeply disappointing.
‘Changing some aspects of the criminal justice system will not magically solve systemic issues.’
Lammy also pledged an extra £550m over three years for specialist support services for victims and witnesses.
