James Rossiter

Crown Court case backlog increased at an even faster rate over the months since @MoJGovUK first cut sitting days in Autumn 2024 Case backlog 25 year high of 76,957 at 31/3/2025 🆙3% in 3mths 🆙5% in 6 mths 🆙11% in 12mths 🆙 133%, 43,974 more from record low 32,994 at 31/12/18

Two months now and still no Bournville cocoa powder in the shops or online Desperate times

I’ve been a loyal Labour MP for 16 years and have only broken the whip on jury trials. I’m disappointed to be suspended without prior discussion. I’ll always stand up for justice, my principles, and East Hull. See my statement below.

Black Country Ale in Birmingham!!🍺👍

SAMURAI exhibition @britishmuseum is amazing!!😄 Until 4th May. Don’t miss it!!

I was once called by @bbc5live to discuss my online comment on why I was unhappy Scott Mills had grabbed the late Steve Wright afternoon slot For the sin of dullness I said. I’d rather listen to paint dry. That was the only ongoing misdemeanour I knew of on radio2 breakfast.

In the old days plastic bottles were left as litter. Nowadays plastic drones

Petrol is too pricey for going to the office, say civil servants “Ministers should be ignoring these demands and telling recalcitrant pen-pushers to grow up.” thetimes.com/article/59947a…

@MrJonathanCarr Wasn’t much different to my game away to Whitton at Feltham RFC on Saturday. A few “hand bags” and all good humoured. Sore necks and happy days.

1977 5 Nations. How players and rules have evolved over 49 years. WALvIRE

Dance like a butterfly Sting like a bee Abeille

Why make it worse @DavidLammy? 🤷🏼‍♂️

In the last 3 months of data available October to December 2025 Magistrates backlog rose ⬆️13,122 or 4% 4 times the rate of increase of Crown Court backlog which was ⬆️757 or 1% magistrates has thousands of domestic abuse and sexual offences in its backlog. Why make it worse?

18 months of @UKLabour Magistrates case backlog: ⬆️ 33% 285,339 June 2024 379,437 December 2025 3x faster than Crown Court backlog Yet @DavidLammy thinks it’s sensible to shift 10s thousands of cases to Magistrates @sarahsackman wants it for “principle” for “swifter justice”

RT @TheCriminalBar: “In an interview with @Telegraph , Richard Atkinson, the president of @TheLawSociety, said @DavidLammy’s plans would le…

Ms Page said @DavidLammy’s “manipulative” use of “people’s pain” to support his measures was outrageous – prompting her to quit her role on a powerful legal watchdog this month in protest. “Once I watched it unfold and [Mr Lammy] and @sarahsackman , his junior minister, started exploiting the very brave women who’d come to sit in the public gallery – rape victims – exploiting their stories ... I just thought, this is not something that I can silently watch,” said Ms Page. Ms Page said Mr Lammy’s plans to let judges preside over the majority of criminal trials risks could give rise to scandal on a similar scale to the Post Office in future. She said: “To put everything in the hands of a judge is a scenario that can so easily lead to miscarriages of justice and I think it will become rife if we go down this road. “Judges are part of the establishment… It’s just not the same as 12 ordinary people who come with no preconceptions, who come ready to take their responsibilities incredibly seriously.” Ms Page added: “Every single person has their prejudices, their preconceptions [but] what makes it worse as a judge is that you then have to go through your career listening to lots and lots of cases and starting inevitably to form your own views about certain types of case, certain types of witness, certain types of defendant.” Ms Page warned that the record backlogs currently facing Britain’s courts will not be solved by Mr Lammy’s changes. At the same time, the Government is failing to fix “all the real things that will actually change the backlog”, she said.

“Ms Page claimed plans had “nothing to do” with the backlog, and were instead driven by a belief that “everything must be controlled from the centre”. Flora Page KC in @Telegraph “It comes from a place of not trusting the people. It comes from a place of not believing that the people of this country are the right people to take decisions about serious matters,” Ms Page said. “The jury is something that is intangibly part of the constitution that delivers power outwards to people and doesn’t allow for it to be centralised. A certain type of person finds that very uncomfortable. They don’t like the fact that it’s not something that you can measure and control,” she said. “Ms Page said the “wantonly destructive” plans risk undermining the rule of law in Britain and damaging public trust in the system of justice that has developed for centuries. She said the overhaul could lead to the rule of law disintegrating and “then you start to have people taking the law into their own hands”

As @DrNShastriHurst points out any pretence of time allowed for proper scrutiny of a Bill that will end the right to jury trial for over 30,000 serious cases is literally going up in smoke Vapour thin time to allow for any evidence to be shared with MPs #JusticeNeedsJuries

WATCH: Labour's plans to erode our Jury Trial rights demolished by barristers that work in the Crown Court every day. These plans won't help victims - they will make things worse @TheCriminalBar @thebarcouncil

With tie behind @NECircuitleader there is a man fist pumping just below the line of sight. Been in the trenches with Caroline Goodwin KC through thick and thin since 2019. We are not for turning. This kingdom of silks who gave evidence. The actual evidence. Know what works.

Organisations in the VAWG sector are raising the alarm about the curtailment of jury trials. Unfair outcomes undermine justice for everyone. rightsofwomen.org.uk/vawg-sector-le…

Will Sarah Sackman give us figures on how many cases in the Magistrates’ Court involve complex third party disclosure? How many have video-recorded evidence? Pre-recorded cross-examination? What % serve defence statements? How experienced the court is with s41 parameters?