Labour's Continued Attacks on Liberty

Here is a story that won't stick in the headlines for more than a day. David Lammy has unveiled plans to curtail the right to jury trial for anything but the "most serious" offences.The Times reports the automatic right to appeal will also be scrapped by the government. The plans will involve a new tier of courts presided over by judge-only trials, and will cover offences with penalties of up to five years in prison and/or especially complex cases, like those involving fraud. Relying, as ever, on managerial justifications for a political decisions, drawing on a report by our old friend Sir Brian Leveson, his recommendations were that upending of the right to jury trials would bring much-needed efficiency to proceedings. There is a huge case backlog and that is set to grow further by the end of this parliament, so getting through cases quicker will stop the system seizing up. Leveson and Labour are one: doing nothing is not an option.

Evidently, neither is restoring the levels of resource to the courts that was worn away by the Tories. Hypocritically, Kemi Badenoch memory holed her party's record as she criticised the proposals to scrap juries. Ordinary people have a role to play, she mused. Suella Braverman (remember her?) called this a "serious assault on our liberty" and "an end to our world class justice system". This is the very same former Attorney General who attempted to disregard the jury-led acquittal of four Black Lives Matter protestors accused of dumping Edward Colston's statue into Bristol harbour. Despite this, unfortunately Badenoch and Braverman's charges are examples of the worst people you know making good and correct points. Though if Badenoch takes Keir Starmer to task about this at Prime Minister's Questions, he'll have the list of Tory failings ready around court waiting times, levels of defunding, and so on. It's all very predictable.

That said, I'm not buying what the government are selling. Lammy is saying the backlog has to be reduced, and so the process needs speeding up.That's as far as it goes. Are we to suppose it's a matter of coincidence that this comes after Labour have backed state-mandated curbs of the right to protest and clampdowns on our liberties? Such as the disgraceful designation of Palestine Action as a terrorist group, more police powers to prevent protests, including stopping what they deem "repeat protests", and Labour's support for disproportionately long sentences for "disruptive" protestors - particularly those from the environmental movement. Combine that with Labour's attack on asylum, including the legal remedies open to those forced through their inhumane-by-design process, and ICE-style deportations units, Labour are happily - gleefully - building up the infrastructure an authoritarian regime would find useful. It's a good job a right wing extremist party isn't topping the polls and stands no chance of winning the next election.

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