Shabana Mahmood comments on the growing crown court backlog

Shabana Mahmood MP, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary, commenting on today’s figures which show the crown court backlog growing, said:

“After 14 years of Conservative failure, our criminal justice system is grinding to a halt.

“These figures show the government have done the exact opposite of what they promised in 2021 – instead of cutting the crown court backlog by 7,000 cases by March 2025, they have now allowed it to increase by more than 7,000. This backlog is a direct product of the Tories’ bad political choices – the choice to close down hundreds of courts while allowing others to fall into a state of neglect and disrepair. This government is failing victims and undermining public confidence in our justice system.

"Labour will accelerate the delivery of justice by increasing the number of staff working as crown prosecutors to drive down the backlog.”

Ends

Notes:

• In the 2021 Spending Review, the Conservative government said it would get the crown court backlog down from 60,000 to 53,000 by Mar 2025, a reduction of 7,000 cases. Instead, today's figures show the backlog is now more than 7,000 higher than it was at the time of that commitment - 67,573.

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/sunaks-millions-will-cut-case-backlog-by-just-7000-government-admits/5110479.article

• Today’s statistics confirming the court backlog has further grown under the Conservatives:
  https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2023/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2023