Sir Brian Leveson, who conducted the independent review of the courts system that guided the government’s decision to reduce on jury trials, has suggested there is no alternative.

Speaking to Sky’s Politics Hub programme, the retired judge argued that by restricting jury trials, Justice Secretary David Lammy is “aiming to try to solve the systemic problems” in courts.

He told Sky presenter Ali Fortescue: “I am a great believer in trial by jury, but trials with a jury take very much longer than trials conducted otherwise than with 12 people who are utterly unused to criminal procedure and criminal evidence.

“So my concern is that we need to get through cases quicker.”

He said that it was likely a “20% time saving would result” from the move, although he thinks that “a great deal more” would be saved.

Asked about the criticism today of the decision, Sir Brian said: “I’m gaining no pleasure from it, but what I say to all of them is ‘If not this, then what?’ How do we reduce the backlog so the victims and witnesses get their day in court within a reasonable time?”

He argued that “we should use our resources proportionately to the gravity of the offending”, and “there are some cases which, to my mind, do not merit or require a trial by jury”.

Sir Brian said that some jurors he had spoken to said it was “worthwhile”. But he added: “They’ve given up two weeks of their life, sometimes without any pay except the small remuneration that they receive from the state doing jury service, and they’ve been trying cases which shouldn’t merit their attention”.

Asked if he would want a trial by jury if he had been wrongly accused of theft, Sir Brian said: “If I’d been wrongly accused of theft, I’d be perfectly happy for a judge to decide I’d been wrongly accused of theft.”

More broadly, he said: “I don’t see how you’re going to bring down the backlog without more money, more sitting days, greater efficiency, and speedier trials…

“There aren’t the judges, there aren’t the court staff, more significantly there aren’t the advocates.”

He said that the justice system had never been in such a “calamitous” state.

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‘The reforms are about fairness’

Courts minister Sarah Sackman also defended the decision on Tuesday’s Politics Hub. She acknowledged that jury trials were “a success story”, and “a cornerstone of British justice and will remain so after today’s plans”.

But she added: “What’s not such a success story is the fact that we inherited record and rising backlogs in our courts.

“Today the number starts at 80,000 cases, and it’s on the rise – due to hit 100,000 by 2028.”

That leaves victims “waiting for their case to be heard”. She argued that the measures announced on Tuesday were “a set of reforms that will restore confidence in our justice system, get those delays down, and indeed preserve jury trials for the most serious cases”.

Ms Sackman added that “right now in our system, 90% of cases [are] being heard without a jury in our magistrates”, which is “fair, robust justice”.

“Part of fairness is about the swiftness we need to deliver swifter justice for victims,” she said.

“What’s not fair is a victim of crime being told today that she needs to wait until 2029, 2030 for her day in court.”

The minister gave an example of what will change, saying: “Supposing a defendant is accused of stealing a bottle of whisky.

“Is it right that we allow the defendant to insist on a slower, more expensive jury trial in the same queue as the victim of rape, making her wait and in some cases, justice not being served?

“That’s the choice that we’ve made today.”

But the minister refused to say how much this would reduce the backlog by.

An influential parliamentary committee is launching an inquiry into the Crown Estate – the vast range of properties and land owned by the monarchy.

The move by the Public Accounts Committee follows scrutiny of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s living arrangements at Royal Lodge on the Windsor Estate, and the revelation he pays a peppercorn rent.

The Crown Estate and the Treasury were asked to explain and justify his lease agreement to the committee after the series of scandals over Andrew’s controversial links to Jeffrey Epstein which saw him step down from royal duties and lose his royal style and titles.

The former prince has consistently denied allegations of sexual abuse and his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, took her own life this year.

Public Accounts Committee chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown thanked the Treasury and Crown Estate for responding to questions and said the committee’s “overall” mission was to “secure value for money for the taxpayer”.

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He said: “Having reflected on what we have received, the information provided clearly forms the beginnings of a basis for an inquiry.”

The inquiry into the Crown Estate will start in the new year and will consider leases given to members of the royal family, as well as wider work based on the estate’s annual accounts.

Part of the responses given to the committee confirm Andrew won’t receive any compensation for leaving Royal Lodge due to the maintenance and repairs the property needs.

It has also been revealed that the Prince and Princess of Wales have a 20-year lease on their new home, Forest Lodge, also situated within Windsor Great Park.

Twelve more prisoners have been mistakenly released from prison over the past month, David Lammy has confirmed – and two remain at large.

Speaking to Mornings with Ridge and Frost, the justice secretary admitted that there have been further prisoners accidentally freed since he made a statement on the issue last month.

Pushed on how many more people have been wrongly let out since his update to MPs on 11 November, Mr Lammy responded: “There have been two.”

But he later clarified to the BBC afterwards that “there have been 12 [mistaken releases] since then, two are currently at large”.

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At the time, he said 91 people had been mistakenly freed from prisons in England and Wales since April this year.

Mr Lammy told Sky News: “There have been releases in error since I made that statement, but I want to convey that the trend this year is fortunately downwards.

“There are two people currently at large… and a prison system that is paper-based. Mistakes happen.”

But pushed for more detail on these mistaken releases, Mr Lammy said he doesn’t want to give a “running commentary”.

He said: “It’s important that I release that data in the way that it’s always been released. And it’s also important that I work with police where someone is at large, and sometimes because the police are about to nab somebody, they actually don’t want me to discuss it, and it’s important that they get on to it.”

Mr Lammy also told ITV that the two prisoners who remain at large are not violent or sexual offenders.

Reacting to Mr Lammy’s admission, the shadow justice secretary, Robert Jenrick, said: “Calamity Lammy admits two more dangerous prisoners have been mistakenly released.

“But he won’t say who they are or where they are. When will this fiasco end?”

Following the justice secretary’s admission to the BBC, Mr Jenrick added: “Fifteen minutes later, Calamity says 12 prisoners have in fact been released by mistake, not two.

“Twelve in three weeks. So the problem has got worse since he intervened.

“This is a total shambles.”

Mr Jenrick’s shadow Cabinet colleague, Sir Mel Stride, has told Sky News that the justice secretary should “tell us a bit more” about the two prisoners who are on the run.

He said: “I think it is appropriate that he comes forward and tells us a bit more about who they are, what they were convicted for, how dangerous they might be, so that we’re properly informed.”

Pushed on whether it should be for the police to decide to share this information, the shadow chancellor responded: “It seems to me, on the face of it, that if you’ve got two people out there, who have been let go by mistake… then we should know a little bit more about it.”

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Jess Brown-Fuller has said it is utterly unacceptable that public safety has been put at risk yet again”.

She added: “The public deserves a full explanation about how this has happened again, and how the government are going to get a grip on this dangerous level of incompetence within our justice system.

“Both the government and the Prison Service must own up to their failures and guarantee that these mistakes will stop happening once and for all.”

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Some 262 prisoners were mistakenly freed in the year to March 2025, a 128% increase on the 115 in the previous 12 months, according to figures from the Ministry of Justice.

Since then, Mr Lammy has faced a number of high-profile man-hunts, after inmates were mistakenly released and temporarily went on the run.

These include:

• Hadush Kebatu, a sex offender who assaulted a 14-year-old girl in Epping, Essex and was subsequently freed from HMP Chelmsford on 24 October
• Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, an Algerian sex offender who was mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth on 29 October, leading to a nine-day manhunt
• Billy Smith, a fraudster also accidentally freed from HMP Wandsworth on 3 November

All three have subsequently been returned to prison, and Kebatu was later deported to his home country of Ethiopia.

Following these, Mr Lammy admitted the government had a “mountain to climb”.