SCRAPPING jury trials will “undermine confidence in our criminal justice system” with “no evidence” it will bring down court backlogs, top lawyers have warned.

The bodies representing barristers in Britain and Ireland published a rare joint statement condemning a government plan to remove juries for half of criminal trials.

The Four Bars told Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer that they are “deeply concerned” with the proposals announced by Justice Secretary David Lammy this month.

Changes would mean that defendants in cases involving crimes with a likely sentence of less than three years will no longer be given the option of having a trial by jury.

Instead, only defendants of crimes likely to merit more than five years in prison would have their cases heard before a jury.

The plans will also increase the powers of magistrates to hand down longer sentences.

In their statement, the Four Bars said the move would undermine public trust and that there was “no evidence” it would reduce the backlog.

The heads of the Bar Council of England and Wales, Scotland’s Faculty of Advocates, the Bar of Ireland, and the Bar of Northern Ireland said: “The curtailment of jury trials has predictable negative consequences, including undermining the public’s trust and confidence in our criminal justice systems.

“Trial by a jury is long established and respected throughout the common law world for its veneration of democratic ideals, its age, gender, and ethnic inclusiveness, and its respect for citizens’ and judges’ roles in the administration of justice.”

They added: “Jurors provide an accumulation of life experience which marginalises extreme or unrepresentative views and, through the majority, delivers balanced and rounded decisions on behalf of the society from which its members were drawn.”

Sir Keir’s government has defended the proposals, claiming they would reduce the backlog of cases waiting to be heard in court.

It recently emerged in quotes published by the Criminal Bar Association of England & Wales that Sir Keir once publicly spoke out against scrapping jury trials.

Writing for the Socialist Lawyer magazine in 1992, he said: “The right to trial by jury is an important factor in the delicate balance between the power of the state and the freedom of the individual.

“The further it is restricted, the greater the imbalance.”

Tim Crosland, a spokesperson for the campaign group Defend Our Juries, told the Star: “We have been warning for some time that trial by jury is under attack. This is not because of any supposed efficiency savings.

“It is because juries have been reaching verdicts which are embarrassing to an increasingly authoritarian state and its corporate sponsors.”

Mr Crosland blamed Lord Walney’s influence over past Conservative governments as well as the current Labour administration for the attack on juries and the proscription of Palestine Action.

He said: “It was in May last year that Lord Walney, a lobbyist for the oil and arms industries [formerly the Labour MP John Woodcock], recommended that the Lord Chancellor and Lady Chief Justice launch a process to examine the potential issue of juries acquitting defendants.”

Mr Crosland added that Lord Walney advised the government over his concern that juries and judges could “apply laws differently when they are transgressed in the name of progressive causes like climate change and anti-racism.”

“Likewise, Elbit Systems, the largest manufacturer of drones for the Israeli army, has raised concerns with the Home Office about juries acquitting Palestine Action,” he said.

“The government’s cynical attempt to stop juries reaching the ‘wrong’ verdicts is an assault on democracy, which should be resisted on all sides.”

Plans to cut jury trials have prompted fierce reactions from opposition leaders and Labour backbenchers alike, with 39 Labour MPs signing an open letter saying they would vote against jury reform.

Labour MP Karl Turner, who studied at the bar before becoming a politician, said: “I didn’t ever feel like I had to break the whip under [Jeremy Corbyn’s] leadership.

“Makes one wonder the direction [Labour] is heading in when it’s under [Sir Keir] that I have no option but to say that I’d have to break the whip.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “This government inherited a justice system in crisis.

“Combined, these measures will free up the space and time needed to prioritise the most serious cases — including those that can and should have a jury trial.”