Poll-leading Reform UK will restore ancient, basic British liberties like right to trial by jury if elected, Nigel Farage said in response to the Labour government moving to abolish trials in most cases.
Nigel Farage responded “yes, yes!” when asked whether a potential future government under his leadership would overturn now-in-progress Labour changes to the justice system, which are set to strip the right to trial by jury from thousands of defendants under the guise of saving court time.
Speaking at a wide-ranging press conference, Mr Farage decried the country’s left-wing government for addressing the enormous backlog of court cases by degrading the justice process, rather than by opening more courts to maintain standards. He said:
Yes. It’s an absolutely fundamental freedom, it is our last protection against the state… Frankly if they wanted to clear the backlog of minor cases then I tell you what they ought to do.
They ought to reopen all those Magistrates’ courts that were closed up and down this country and appeal to the retired lay Magistry… and frankly there’s no reason why our Crown Courts for the more serious cases can’t work from seven in the morning to ten at night to clear this backlog.
To abolish a right, to devalue something called Magna Carta, which we’re actually admired in many parts of the world for being the author of this very idea of individual liberty and freedom from a potentially overwhelming state, is a very poor and sick excuse.
Mr Farage gave the example of his recent court experience, over an illegal boat migrant who had made threats against his life, and how inefficient the system is. Referring to Serco, the enormous outsourcing company that delivers a considerable proportion of all government work, Mr Farage said he discovered precious court time was constantly wasted because the company would “deliver the defendant late”. “Apparently this happens every day,” he said.
As earlier reported, the UK’s Labour government has announced it is to attempt to clear the trial backlog by simply removing the right to a trial for a wide swath of alleged offences. These would reportedly include theft, burglary, assault, fraud, dangerous driving, and possession of drugs with intent to supply, among others.
Rather than being judged by twelve of their peers, defendants would instead have their fates decided by one person, the presiding judge in the case.
Appearing before Parliament earlier this week, Justice Minister David Lammy defended his plans to overhaul the British institution, arguing that the streamlined process would “deliver justice at least 20 per cent faster than jury trials”.
Lammy went on to describe the British system as “peculiar” compared to other forms of justice internationally, and argued that a “strong justice system is not one that clings to tradition for its own sake.”
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