The New Statesman. What is the future for jury trials? On Tuesday, 10th of March, MPs will debate

the Courts and Tribunals Bill in what could be the biggest shake-up of the justice system since the 1970s. The

system is in crisis. The backlog of Crown Court cases now stands at over 80,000,

with some defendants waiting years for their cases to be tried.

Witnesses are dropping out, cases are collapsing, and lives are put on hold as justice is delayed.

To tackle this crisis, the government has put forward proposals to radically reform which cases are heard

were, including restricting the right to a trial by jury in all but the most serious cases.

I'm Rachel Kahneliffe and this is Daily Politics from The New Statesman.

I'm joined in the studio today by Sarah Sackman, Minister of State for Courts and Legal Services

and MP for Finchley and Golders Green to discuss the legislation and its potential impact on British justice.

Sarah, thank you so much for joining us here in the renovated New Statesman Studio.

It's looking really good.

This is the biggest overhaul of the justice system since the 1970s and key to the reforms are the restrictions of jury trials

to only the most serious cases. This is going to alter one of the cornerstones of the British

justice system. We know it's in crisis. We know that the backlog is now over 80,000 cases

in the Crown Court's system. What's the rationale for looking at

jury trials as the way to fix this? Well, as you say, Rachel, we inherited a huge backlog in our

Crown Courts. Most people aren't that familiar with the criminal justice system, but at the moment,

we have enormous delays, as you say,

80,000 cases. And behind each and every one of those cases, there's a victim, waiting for justice,

there's somebody accused of a crime, perhaps waiting to clear their name. At the moment,

we've got people who are being told that they're not going to get a trial if they report a crime today until 2030. That's not justice at all, because what's

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