Scrapping Juries is an enormous step backwards
Not just a historic one. A legal one and a moral one too. The establishment in England and in Britain of the right to jury trial in the 17th century after jurors were locked up, and the establishment of the idea of being trialed by fellow peers, citizens, is such an important precedent that inspired & impressed so many & spread around the world While some have managed to implement not all have of course and it is one thing we are still the envy of the world - one of the few things we still are.
We know that in places like China and elsewhere, that is not the case. And now we're looking at a situation where magistrates, w very tiny minority of them who are actually working class. Judges when they make their own inquiry is never as comprehensive as what actually happens with a jury.
And it is even more galling in the context that we've got all sorts of solutions. You can, you know, a lot of judges retire at 70. Many of them could be taken on for longer service. We should be able to speed up, the actual process after arrest. But people are very concerned as well that as we've seen things and in light of the report that's just come out about what happened in Southport, as we've seen what's happened with a state that has very particular ideas or some people who are controlling the state, whether it's in the civil service or also the government at the time, what that can mean as well, when you
dispense with 50% of jury trials, if they're long and complex, what does that mean? Lots of things are complex, and they're profoundly important to our way of life.
Free Speech is one of the, bedrocks of the together Association & Togetherdeclaration has been all along, and the ability for us to have it. And we've seen that there's been big concerns with, two tiered policing, with two tier judiciary people being arrested and locked up for social media posts.
So this is a time where many are looking at this government and the history of the labor Party. Historically, if you think about things like free speech, protest, the right to challenge things, these were all fundamental is why Geoffrey Robertson KC has actually, written this important response to the government’s bad decision.
And, it's so important because he's been a very important person in labour as well with Keir Starmer and, and David Lammy and others. So I think that there's also lots of disquiet and there's a lot of concern in the Labour Party, the backbenchers of course with this. There's a recognition across the board that this could profoundly damage Britain, in a way that's irrevocable.
And we should not allow a situation where this kind of tyrannical situation could arise, because it's not also just about this government, which people have a lot of concerns about, but anyone else in the future, too.
We must have juries! Insist Together
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