In June 2020 the impact of Covid led some to argue that trial by jury should be temporarily suspended. David Lammy, who was at the time the shadow justice secretary, strongly opposed the idea. He tweeted:

‘Jury trials are a fundamental part of our democratic settlement. Criminal trials without juries are a bad idea.’

It now appears that Lammy thinks the time has come, and that he is the man, to destroy this fundamental part of our democratic settlement. He intends the destruction to be permanent. A memo seen by the Times says he is preparing to end jury trials except for murder, rape or manslaughter cases. The sole justification for this vandalism appears to be efficiency savings.

There is of course not the slightest democratic mandate for such a constitutional upheaval

How did we g

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