Are we becoming inured to the salami-slicing of civic rights (and indeed responsibilities) that were once barely even acknowledged? Taking them away piecemeal over years mutes dissent. Nothing to see here, until suddenly there is. The frog boils slowly.
Curbing jury trials was not in Labour’s manifesto. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you like, but this is partly about legislating away the maddening impulse of some jurors to acquit protesters according to conscience. This embarrasses authoritarian politicians and makes them look silly.
Peaceful mass protest itself, of course, is an even greater inconvenience to a deeply unpopular polity. Plans to inhibit it still further are ongoing and appear to face little significant opposition. Home secretary Shabana Mahmood has certainly undergone a Damascene conversion since the days when she addressed pro- Palestine rallies.
One dispiriting aspect of being in this job for so long has been to watch successive governments chip away relentlessly at our rights with scant pushback. Who but legal aid lawyers remembers LASPO, and the days before civil legal aid became (more or less) a quaint museum piece? Who is braced for the likely exclusion of most cases from the SEND tribunal, another bulwark against an unaccountable state deemed just too dear and difficult?
If curbing jury trials were solely about clearing the backlog, David Lammy would include a ‘sunset clause’ in his legislation. He has refused, telling MPs: ‘[Leveson] talks about trials being longer, DNA evidence, the fact that we are passing more legislation in this place, and the police arresting more people. If we are serious about tackling the backlog and getting to a properly established system in which people do not wait much longer than six months to a year for their trial, the changes that we are making have to be permanent.’
It wouldn’t take a particularly accomplished silk long to spot the gaping holes in this argument. Just resource the courts and judiciary accordingly as demand changes, lord chancellor.
It’s a time-dishonoured political ruse. If you want to get rid of something, pretend the nation can’t afford it. (Just for context, allow me to note that digital ID cards are going to cost us at least £2bn and – given the litany of past government IT disasters – probably much more.)
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