The government has been cautioned that its proposed legislative changes in the Courts and Tribunals Bill risk ‘eroding confidence in our justice system.’ Legal charity, JUSTICE, has warned this week that some of the proposals, which were made in response to Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts in England and Wales, go further than his recommendations.
The Leveson review, published in two parts in July 2025 and February 2026, put forward 180 recommendations to reform the structure and operation of the criminal courts to address the backlog of cases awaiting trial, which reached 80,000 in June 2026.
A key recommendation for ‘proportionate reform’ made by Lord Leveson was a proposal to remove the defendant’s right to elect a Crown Court jury trial for certain either-way offences with a maximum sentence of two years or less. However, JUSTICE highlight that the government’s proposed reforms go further in looking to remove ‘the right to elect in its entirety.’
Whilst Leveson recommended that seriously complex fraud and financial trials should be heard by judge-only, the government’s proposals in the Court and Tribunals Bill would also give the Secretary of State powers to add or remove offences eligible to be tried by judge alone. These powers have been described as ‘draconian’ as they go far beyond the ‘tight definition’ of eligible cases proposed by Lord Leveson in his review.
Lord Leveson had also recommended fixing the sentencing powers of magistrates to 12 months, whilst the government is looking to extend their sentencing powers up to 18- and 24-months maximum imprisonment for single and multiple triable either-way offences. JUSTICE explains, the ‘compound effect is a widening of magistrates’ powers which increases the seriousness of the cases which can be tried without a jury.’
The charity has said that, whilst they agree with the government ‘the current impact of long and complex trials on victims, witnesses, and defendants is untenable’ they oppose the government’s answer: ‘The answer is not to curtail the right to trial by jury, create more legal complexity, or push more cases upon magistrates.’
The Leveson proposals to restrict jury trials were met with criticism when first published back in July 2026, with some warning this would lead to inevitable miscarriages of justice. The Justice Gap has previously reported that over 100 Lawyers across England and Wales signed a letter to oppose the recommendations. However, since this letter was signed, the new Labour Government under Andy Burham has decided to scrap some of these proposals.
