I may quit and make Starmer fight a by-election over jury plans, warns Labour MP
A Labour MP has warned Keir Starmer he could force a tricky by-election in his seat to show how serious he is about fighting the government’s plans to cut the use of juries.
Karl Turner, the MP for Kingston-Upon-Hull East, is one of the most vocal critics of Justice Secretary David Lammy’s dramatic proposals to fix the court backlog.
They would mean defendants who face jail terms of less than three years – which could apply to offences such as burglary and some sex crimes – would lose the 800-year right to be tried by 12 peers.
In an interview with the Sunday Times today, Turner said he had been charged with handling stolen goods while working as an antiques dealer 23 years ago.
He recalled being advised by his legal team to ‘elect for a jury trial’ due to the strength of the evidence, though the case was thrown out before it got to that point.
The experience led him to study law and later become an MP.
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Turner said: ‘That’s why I am able to say to the PM that I am ashamed of him and I am ashamed of David Lammy.
‘The government must stop these ludicrous proposals and get on with the hard job of sorting out the criminal justice system — a system that has been badly underfunded by governments of all political persuasions for decades.’
He told the newspaper he was ‘not fearful of having the whip removed’ and had told the Labour whips – whose job is maintaining order in the party ranks – that he could force a by-election to make his ‘principled point’.
Political forecaster Electoral Calculus has put Reform UK’s current chances of winning in Hull East at 93%, with Labour on just 6%.
Turner won the seat in 2024 with a majority of 3,920 with Reform coming in second place.
David Lammy sparked a wave of anger from MPs across the House of Commons when he announced the plans at the start of last month.
The Justice Secretary argued the changes were needed to cut down on the mammoth 80,000-case backlog faced by the courts in England.
Many victims face an extremely long wait for their chance at justice, with some trials are not due to start until 2030.
Lammy told MPs: ‘I’m clear jury trials will continue to be the cornerstone of the system for the most serious offences… this will include rape, murder, manslaughter, grievous bodily harm, robbery and arson with intent to kill.’
Left-wing Labour backbencher compared him to Russian President Vladimir Putin, while shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick accused him of thinking ‘he has a mandate to rip up centuries of jury trials’.
The move was originally proposed by former judge Sir Brian Leveson, in a report outlining options for repairing the trouble-hit system.
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