Andrew Thomas KC – chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, which represents barristers who work in crown and magistrates courts – said the profession was “delighted”.
“Justice needs juries,” he said. “Nothing inspires more public trust than 12 ordinary citizens from all walks of life deciding the facts of a case together.
“We are also pleased that the government is going ahead with important changes in the bill to protect victims and witnesses at trial. These include new powers to prevent unfair questioning about a complainant’s behaviour and to support witnesses to give their best evidence.”
But Thomas warned plans to keep more middle-ranking cases before magistrates could backfire – not least because of a shortage of magistrates.
“The proposal to strip defendants of their right to elect a crown court trial, combined with doubling magistrates’ sentencing powers to two years, would shift 25,000 cases a year – including 5,500 jury trials – out of the crown court,” he said.
“These are not minor offences. It includes serious and sensitive cases including assaults, sexual assaults, child abuse and grievous bodily harm. Our volunteer magistrates do an excellent job but they are completely unequipped to try complex, multi-day trials.
“It would be a car crash if they tried to do it, especially at this time.”
Claire Waxman, victims’ commissioner for England and Wales, said victims were “being asked to place their faith in a plan that ministers themselves argued would not be [enough]”.
Barrister Karl Turner, a Labour MP who was suspended from the parliamentary party after he criticised the government’s plans to reform jury trials, thanked Burnham “for his support during my campaign”.
Shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy said: “This is a major victory for everyone who fought to defend trial by jury, and Conservatives led that fight from day one. Labour have been forced to abandon its central attack on jury trials in the Crown Court.”
Liberal Democrat justice spokeswoman Jess Brown-Fully added the proposal “should never have been introduced in the first place”, while Green MP Sian Berry said it was “a victory for justice and fairness”.