This week, a majority of Labour Party MPs voted to pass the government’s Courts and Tribunals Bill, the most substantial piece of legislation related to criminal justice in decades. Among the majority were Cornwall’s four Labour MPs: Jayne Kirkham, Perran Moon, Noah Law, and Anna Gelderd.

The Bill’s key proposal, and the one receiving the most scrutiny, is the large-scale scrapping of jury trials, except for cases that could result in a custodial (prison) sentence of three or more years. Thousands of cases would therefore be exempt from the right to trial by a jury of peers, a legal right dating back centuries. A lesser-known change in the Bill extends the sentencing limits of magistrates from 18 months to 24 months, a reform which has caused significant concern among legal professionals.

Justice Minister and Deputy PM David Lammy has made public statements claiming the Bill will help to clear the 80,000-strong backlog of cases in Crown Courts, which were radically underfunded during Conservative austerity. Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips, have claimed the reforms will relieve those seeking justice for sexual and gendered violence. Others have fought back against this notion however, with Labour MP Charlotte Nichols delivering a powerful speech in the Commons, warning against the “weaponization” of victim and survivor experiences.

Activists for the rights of Black and brown Brits have also pointed out how this Bill will disproportionately affect non-white defendants. 3,236 of the UK’s barristers, among them TV’s Robert Rinder, have pointed out that those convicted of even minor crimes can be devastated by the effects of criminalisation in their professional and personal lives. Without the right to a jury trial, these advocates state, individuals could be subject to the personal prejudices of judges or institutional biases within the judiciary.

Out of 404 Labour MPs, only 10 turned out to vote against the Bill, among whom were the often-rebellious John McDonnell, Richard Burgon, and Imran Hussein. In total, 203 members voted against the Bill.

Both of Cornwall’s Liberal Democrat MPs—Andrew George for West Cornwall and Ben Maguire for North Cornwall—voted against the motion, with Maguire taking to social media to call out the government for its erosion of a “cornerstone of our justice system.” None of the aforementioned Labour MPs for Cornish constituencies have made any public statements on the matter, despite its controversy locally and nationally.

Cobblestone reached out to local activists for Jury Trials in Cornwall, a spokesperson from Defend Our Juries Cornwall stated:

“The progress of the Courts and Tribunals Bill through its second reading yesterday brings us a significant step closer to the most damaging assault on our rights to a fair trial within our lifetimes – and arguably much longer.

“The Bill is yet another tyrannical extension of power by a government radically out of step with its own people, and with the historic moment to which it is answerable. A key indicator of that ever-growing disconnect has been the consistent refusal of juries in recent years to convict in contexts where those accused have showed a clear ethical basis for having chosen to break the law – such as Palestine Action’s courageous resistance to the UK’s shameful complicity in the Palestinian Genocide, or climate protestors challenging the government’s refusal to admit or respond to the existential threat of ever increasing fossil-fuel pollution.

“Make no mistake, the embarrassment these acquittals have caused the government is why our jury system is under attack. That all four of our regional Labour MPs voted in favour of this bill yesterday tells you everything you need to know about who is now claiming to represent us. Irrespective of their merits in other regional contexts, these people have been consistent apologists for a UK-backed genocide, for the government’s cynical use Terrorism Legislation to suppress even the most restrained and nonviolent resistance to their complicity in that genocide, and now for a new illegal war of aggression, supported by a Labour government apparently deaf to the lessons of history.

“None of these issues are irrelevant to threat posed to our diminishing liberties by the Courts and Tribunals Bill: find out how you can join the resistance to this latest government attack on our judicial system here: defendourjuries.org”

Image Via: Creative Commons.