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Order! Order.

Hello, I'm Sean Curran, and this is today in Parliament from BBC Radio 4 for Tuesday the 2nd of December,

when the Justice Secretary announced plans to restrict the right to trial by jury in England and Wales

as part of efforts to tackle delays in the criminal justice system.

The caseload is projected to reach 100,000 by 2028

and without fundamental change could keep rising,

meaning justice will be denied to more victims

and trust in the system will collapse.

The Conservatives say the changes will be the beginning of the end of jury trials.

Our ancestors did not stop bad King John only to be undone

800 years later by this Prime Minister and his court jester.

And from budget leak to empty seat.

Today we had expected to have the then chair of the Office of Budget Responsibility, Richard Hughes, as a witness.

But let's start with those plans to restrict the right to a jury trial in England and Wales.

The Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister David

Lamey said the criminal court system had to change. He told MPs there was a record and rising backlog of

78,000 cases, which had left victims facing what he called agonising delays, with some cases

taking years to come to court. David Lammy said he was

acting on recommendations from the retired senior judge, Sir Brian Leverson, who was asked to come up

with proposals to deal with the backlog. The government wants to set up so-called swift courts,

where judges sitting on their own would deal with offences,

...