The Labour Government is dismantling a cornerstone of the British Constitution, the right to jury trial. That’s why The Jury Alliance is running a national campaigning day of action outside Crown Courts across England and Wales including Sheffield, to demonstrate opposition to the government’s attack on trial by jury. Juries provide a vital, common-sense check on the law, a built-in defence against establishment and administrative power, so The Jury Alliance is a new public campaigning group to raise public awareness and opposition to the government’s plans to limit trial by jury.

If passed, the Courts and Tribunals Bill, currently at the Report stage, will see a single judge replacing a jury of twelve randomly selected members of the public, for all cases in the Crown Court where a prison sentence of three years or less is expected.

Flora Page K.C. , the barrister who overturned wrongful convictions in the Post Office Horizon scandal, recently resigned from the Legal Services Board, the independent regulator of legal services to oppose the changes. She believes that the legal system’s backlog is a cynical cover worked on by officials to cut jury trials. “You should be ashamed of yourselves” she concludes – read the details at Tell the Truth Sheffield.