Do not remove trial by jury for offences with sentences of three years or less

Trial by jury is a core safeguard rooted in Magna Carta 1215 and centuries of English constitutional practice, protecting the right of free citizens to be judged by their peers rather than the state alone. Curtailing jury trial in a wide range of criminal cases is difficult to reconcile with the fair‑hearing guarantees in Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as applied by the Human Rights Act 1998, and risks eroding public confidence in the justice system. No government should use a temporary majority to dismantle long‑standing common‑law constitutional rights without clear consent from the electorate. Parliament and the Government should therefore protect the availability of jury trial in serious and either‑way offences and drop plans for routine judge‑only trials