The Erosion of Trial by Jury is a Further Assault on Our Constitutional Traditions

The Government's proposed abolition of jury trials for either-way offences constitutes a dangerous erosion of an ancient constitutional right. It's even more disconcerting in an age of two-tier justice and judicial activism.

By William Parker

29 DECEMBER 2025

The Government’s latest judicial reforms show, yet again, that the drive for a centralised and powerful state has begun to erode our rights. At their core is, of course, the move to abolish jury trials in either-way offences, specifically cases that are heard before the Crown Court.

This effectively curtails the ancient right of defendants to elect trial by jury in a significant proportion of Crown Court cases – a right that has long served as a bulwark against overweening state power.

Now, I am not claiming that this Government is unique in its desire to throw aside the right to trial by jury. Indeed, many similar attempts have been made in the past, although many of those proposals never made it as far as law.

One consolation may be that this Government is one that is afraid. In fact, both incompetent and afraid. The age of social media and the quick headline are certainly contributing factors to this. Because, of course, if enough people decide they have had enough of the clown show, then they may opt to put their trust in a different party.

"A trial by jury is an essential safeguard. A cross-section of multiple individuals can assess the evidence with less bias than one overmighty judge."

Indeed, opinion polling speaks for itself. In the meantime, we can hope, perhaps in vain, that a push back against this latest change will force it to go by the wayside, just like the move to choke farmers with more inheritance tax.

What, then, is so worrying about a judge deciding guilt or innocence? Well, have we not seen the dangers of this in an increasingly two-tier system of justice? Judicial impartiality may negate many anxieties about these judicial reforms. However, much criticism has already been made of activist judges with alleged pro-migration views or links to advocacy groups. Given the evidence on this issue, can we necessarily be sure that judicial impartiality does exist?

Indeed, a trial by jury is an essential safeguard. A cross-section of multiple individuals can assess the evidence with less bias than one overmighty judge. I am not going to deny the inefficiency and incompetence that is rife in the British judicial system, but I would think it more prudent to address those inefficiencies in a way that keeps the right of any free born individual accused of a crime to be lawfully judged by a jury.

"The more the government fails to truly tackle backlog with real solutions, the more light sentences will be handed out in serious cases. This is what we mean by two-tier justice."

When the riots broke out over the Southport stabbings, we saw judges making an example of certain people by giving them hefty sentences for offensive social media posts. This, to my mind, wouldn’t have happened if there wasn’t a political drive to punish those who were seen to have instigated the riots.

Instead of seriously wanting to fix the inherent problems in our courts, the government is opting for what amounts of an apparent quick fix. There are many measures that could help the struggling judiciary, many measures that would keep the ancient rights of English people intact. We should build more prisons, implement real deterrents, repeal parts of the Communications Act, and more.

The more the government fails to truly tackle the backlog with real solutions, the more light sentences will be handed out in serious cases. This is what we mean by two-tier justice. One rule for one person, another for someone else. No consistency. No justice. No rights. The Justice Secretary needs a serious wake-up call, and we should all play a small part in giving him that wake-up call. 

William Parker is the Deputy Director of Constitutional Conservatives UK. He is also the published fiction author of The Cloudscape Chronicles. You can follow him on X/Twitter here