Andy Slaughter

Andy Slaughter

Labour — Hammersmith and Chiswick

Speaking in the House of Commons on 3 February 2026

Debate

Changes to Jury Trials

Contribution

There is a lot of focus on replacing juries with a single judge in some criminal trials, but the Government also intend to increase magistrates’ sentencing powers, so that they can give sentences of up to 18 or 24 months, which is beyond what Sir Brian Leveson suggests. Is it the Government’s intention that district judges sitting alone will be able to sentence offenders to up to 24 months?

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