Courts and Tribunals Bill (25 February 2026)

 

 

House of Commons - 25 February 2026 - the government introduced the Courts and Tribunals Bill.

 

The Bill follows on from the Reports by retired judge Sir Brian Leveson -

• Independent Review of the Criminal Courts Part 1 (pdf 388 pages)

• Independent Review of the Criminal Courts Part 2 (pdf pages) - 2 Volumes. 

The Leveson Recommendations:

The most striking

of Leveson's recommendations is the removal of trial by jury from many cases heard in the Crown Court of England and Wales. Whilst jury trial would remain for the most serious of criminal offences, other cases would be triable in a new Bench Division comprising a judge sitting with two magistrates. 

Leveson also proposed increasing the maximum sentencing power available to Magistrates thereby retaining more cases at that level.

Secretary of State for Justice: 

In early September 2025, the Secretary of State for Justice was changed from Shabanah Mahmood MP (now Home Secretary) to David Lammy MP (also appointed Deputy Prime Minister). 

Lammy endorsed Leveson regarding juries but did not support the idea of a Judge with 2 Magistrates. Instead, those Crown Court trials would be decided by judges sitting alone.

The present-day right to trial by jury: 

Both Lammy and Leveson have argued that the citizen just has a right to a fair trial and not trial by a jury.

That view ignores the obvious point that rights in law do not stem just from the ECHR. Jury trial for serious offences is a long-established right developed by English Law and it is a method of trial which continues to have the general support of the population.

As the law now stands, the most serious offences (indictable only) may be tried only by a jury. Other serious offences (either-way offences) are triable either in the Crown Court (with jury) or in the Magistrates' Court. Defendants charged with either-way offences have a right to choose trial by jury. These are crucial rights and are now set to be changed by a government which has repeatedly shown itself to be authoritarian in nature. 

The government claims that changes are necessary to address the large backlog in Crown Court cases which has developed over recent years. Yet, it is obvious that the backlog has been caused by successive governments failing to fund the court system adequately. Hence, on a daily basis, numerous courtrooms have not been opened. This week, Lammy announced that funding would be increased. That is welcome but is something the government could have done as early as 2024 and Lammy still wishes to proceed with his ideological proposals to limit jury trial.

Brief Overview of the Bill:

The Bill (as presented) has 27 Clauses and 3 Schedules.

Clauses 1 to 7 of the Bill are perhaps the most controversial. 

 

Clauses 8 to 11 are concerned with Admissibility of Evidence in cases involving sexual offences or domestic violence/

Clause 12 to 16 deal with "Special Measures" - that is, measures aimed at enabling vulnerable witnesses to give evidence in court.

Part 2 of the Bill makes "Other Provision about courts and tribunals." 

Part 3 is Final Provisions.

Further analysis: 

The Bill contains extensive use of the usual "cut and paste" technique by which numerous other Acts of Parliament are amended. This makes the Bill opaque and far from easy to read. I plan to publish some follow-up posts looking at the Bill in further detail.

It will be of interest to see how the government plans to progress this Bill through Parliament. Assuming the Bill passes Commons second reading, there have been indications that the Committee Stage will take place on the floor of the House. That is a tactic used to push legislation through speedily but usually at the expense of adequate scrutiny.

The proposals in this Bill were not included in the Labour Party manifesto for the 2024 general election. The government cannot therefore claim a mandate from the people for its illiberal proposals. This may matter if the Bill reaches the House of Lords because the so-called Salisbury-Addison convention will not apply. The convention is an informal and uncodified rule by which the House of Lords enables the swift passage of Bills that fulfil manifesto commitments.  

26 February 2026