LABOUR MPs are threatening to defeat Sir Keir Starmer’s attack on the right to a jury trial.

The 39 backbenchers have signed a letter to the Prime Minister describing the move as “madness.” A rebellion on that scale could threaten the government’s chances of seeing the plan become law.

Calling on ministers to reverse the proposal, the MPs describe it as “an ineffective way of dealing with the crippling backlog in cases in our criminal justice system.”

“The drastic restriction of the right to trial by jury is not a silver bullet,” the letter said.

“To limit a fundamental right for what will make a marginal difference to the backlog, if any, is madness and will cause more problems than it solves.”

The letter warned that the public “will not stand for the erosion of a fundamental right.”

Hull East MP Karl Turner, one of the co-ordinators of the letter, warned that the 39 signatories were only the tip of the iceberg.

He said: “This is not just the usual suspects. There are people on that letter who have never voted against the party during the entire time they have been in it.”

The MPs suggest increasing the number of court sitting days as a better way to cut the backlog and blame the problems in the system in part on private security company Serco not delivering defendants to court in time.

The rebellion comes as the backlog in the courts has risen to a record high of nearly 80,000, an increase of 9 per cent on a year earlier.