The jury's out for Labour? Well, quite

NICK FERRARI

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IF SOMETHING has, with some exceptions, worked well for centuries, has been one of our most notable exports and had also been adopted by almost every democracy on the planet, it would surely make sense to stick with it, wouldn’t it?

Astonishingly, this is not the case for this government as last week it announced defendants will only be able to be opt for a jury trial where the offence carried a probable sentence of more than three years.

Yes, only a government with the extraordinary and utterly unjustified hubris of the current incumbents would seek to overthrow one of the most basic tenets of a law dating back to 1215! Namely, that any of us can choose to be tried by our peers.

And the result? Around half of those facing their day of judgement will now no longer be able to rely on that basic principle of law.

There was an understandable — and valid — horrific reaction from almost every level of our legal profession over this suggestion which can be seen to, almost at a stroke, erode our defence against government authoritarianism.

After all, if we can’t be judged by our peers, how can we expect to be protected by them?