The Law Society has criticised Lammy’s proposals for “eroding our fundamental right to be judged by a jury of our own peers”.
In a statement issued after Lammy’s speech, its vice-president, Brett Dixon, said: “Allowing a single judge, operating in an under-resourced system, to decide guilt in a serious and potentially life-changing case is a dramatic departure from our shared values.
“The government cannot justify stripping away this fundamental right without publishing clear evidence that putting more cases in the hands of a single judge will tackle the horrendous backlogs in our courts.”
