Chichester MP Jess Brown-Fuller attacks court reforms

Chichester MP Jess Brown-Fuller, who serves as the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for justice, has spoken out against parts of the Courts and Tribunals Bill, which seeks to cut jury trials in a bid to address lingering backlogs in Crown Courts.

The proposed reforms have drawn widespread criticism from legal professionals and political opponents alike.

Ms Brown-Fuller said: "If Labour backbenchers had joined forces with the Liberal Democrats today, we could have stopped the government in its tracks from pushing through its disastrous and unpopular plan to slash jury trials.

"Instead they simply sat by.

"The Justice Secretary has put his fingers in his ears despite the entire legal sector sounding the alarm that scrapping jury trials will do absolutely nothing to bring down the spiralling backlog and threatens a cornerstone of our justice system.

"The government should have listened to the Liberal Democrats' plans to double sitting time in courtrooms across the country.

"That's how to get the backlog under control and give victims justice quickly."

She argued in Parliament that the government had not provided sufficient evidence to support the move and called for greater investment in fixing the root causes of the delays.

Ms Brown-Fuller highlighted longstanding issues such as underfunding, deteriorating court infrastructure and problems with prisoner delivery contracts as the real drivers behind the backlog.

Other contentious elements of the Bill include expanding magistrates’ sentencing powers and removing the automatic right of appeal for those sentences.

While supporters of the reform argue it is needed to help victims who have waited years for justice, Ms Brown-Fuller and her party maintain that a return to extended courtroom hours - using both AM and PM sittings as piloted during the pandemic - would do more to cut delays.