New bill to soften Starmer-era scrapping of jury trials, justice secretary confirms

LIVERPOOL, England — Justice Secretary Alex Norris confirmed that a new Courts Bill will seek to address criticism of the Keir Starmer-era plan to scrap up to half of all jury trials in England and Wales. Norris, who replaced David Lammy as justice secretary in July, told an upcoming episode of the “Politics at Sam and Anne’s” podcast that the new bill — heading for the Commons in October — will include “major structural reforms” to speed up court hearings. But he said critics of culling jury trials “had been listened to” since new Prime Minister Andy Burnham indicated in the summer that he would prefer an outcome which entailed “not reducing access to jury trial.