BARRISTERS on the Wales and Chester Circuit (the legal region covering Wales and parts of Cheshire) have strongly opposed the Government’s plans to restrict jury trials by engaging with local MPs at Crown Courts in the region, and in Westminster.
The events were organised as part of the ‘Justice needs juries’ campaign, spearheaded by barristers who argue that delays in the courts are not due to juries, but due to chronic under-investment in the system.
Barristers practising in Welsh and Cheshire courts invited MPs to meet them in Cardiff and Swansea Crown Courts to show them around the court buildings, meet with court staff, and talk with barristers in the robing rooms about Government proposals to remove the right to elect for jury trials in cases where the sentence may be up to three years.
At Cardiff Crown Court, Circuit Leader Christopher Rees KC met with Stephen Doughty MP (Labour, Cardiff South and Penarth) and Alex Barros-Curtis MP (Labour, Cardiff West).
Barrister Craig Jones met with Carolyn Harris MP (Labour, Neath and Swansea East), Tonia Antoniazzi MP (Labour, Gower) and representatives for Sir Chris Bryant MP (Labour, Rondda) at Swansea Crown Court.
The constituency court day took place across England and Wales with around 20 MPs visiting 10 Crown Courts – at least one in each of the 6 circuits (legal regions).
In terms of bearing down on the backlog, Cardiff Crown Court is performing better than the national average. Between 2024 and 2025, the overall backlog in England and Wales increased by 9.3% to 79,619. In the same time period, the backlog in Cardiff increased by just 0.8%. However, in Swansea it increased by 9%.
Alongside the Bar Council, which represents 18,000 barristers across England and Wales, and the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), which represents barristers specialising in crime, Wales and Chester Circuit barristers then travelled to Westminster to meet with their local MPs.
There they spoke about the problems in the criminal justice system and asked MPs not to support proposals to curtail juries as it is draining energy and focus from implementing the changes that can be shown to bring down the Crown Court backlog now.
Wales and Chester Circuit Leader Christopher Rees KC said: “The strength of feeling among barristers across the whole of Wales and Chester – and indeed the country – is clear: we oppose plans to restrict jury trials for both principled and practical reasons.
“We all want to see the backlog in the courts brought down for the sake of complainants, witnesses and defendants, as well as those working in the system. But juries did not cause the backlog and research shows that reducing them is not the answer.
“In Wales and Chester, the backlog is not nearly as great as in parts of England. We need greater investment across the system to tackle the issues that cause delays including defendants being repeatedly brought late to court.
“At Cardiff Crown Court, barristers told us that a whole week of their trial had been lost due to this very reason. Not only that but on another occasion, the cells were understaffed so all trials had to stop that day – these issues have nothing to do with jury trials.
“I’m proud that barristers practising in Wales and Chester have taken the time to meet with their MPs – both in the region and in London – to set out our argument that justice needs juries.”
