Allies said he hopes it would give the rest of the Courts and Tribunals Bill a chance at being passed
Allies of incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham have said the Makerfield MP is looking to scrap controversial plans to curb jury trials under David Lammy’s Courts and Tribunals Bill.
By removing the limit of jury trials in England and Wales, it is said Mr Burnham hopes the wider legislation could continue through Parliament without provoking a major rebellion.
With the divisive component removed from the Bill, MPs, peers and legal professionals who believed the reforms threatened one of Britain's oldest legal traditions would likely vote to pass the remainder of the contents.
Although Mr Burnham supported efforts to modernise the justice system and reduce the growing backlog of criminal cases, he believed that the right to be judged by a jury should not be sacrificed in the process.
During the Makerfield by-election, he described trial by jury as a "lynchpin of a fair society", and urged Sir Keir Starmer to reconsider the plans before they became enshrined in law.
The proposed reforms would dramatically change the way many criminal cases were handled, with defendants facing prison sentences of less than three years no longer able to opt for a jury trial.
Instead, their cases would be heard either by magistrates or by newly created judge-only courts, similar to those used in Canada.
Supporters argued the changes would help tackle the record backlog of nearly 80,000 Crown Court cases, where victims often waited four, or even five years for justice.
However, critics saw the proposals very differently, warning that replacing juries with judges or magistrates would weaken an essential safeguard of the justice system.
The Commons Justice Committee also questioned the Government's approach, arguing that David Lammy had failed to build broad support before introducing such significant reforms.
Andy Burnham's position placed him alongside a growing coalition of opponents, and as Mayor of Greater Manchester, he had backed Hull East MP Karl Turner in his campaign against the changes.
Mr Turner had become one of Labour's strongest critics of the reforms - a stance that cost him the party whip.
Despite this, Mr Burnham remained supportive, keeping in regular contact with Mr Turner through phone calls and text messages over the previous year.
The Hull East MP spoke passionately about the issue, claiming the policy had been created by officials and accepted by ministers who lacked a proper understanding of the criminal justice system.
He also revealed that Mr Burnham believed the plans were "ludicrous", and said that London's Mayor, Sir Sadiq Khan, had privately urged the Justice Secretary to abandon them.
Equally, the Bar Council, the Criminal Bar Association, and the Law Society all publicly opposed limiting jury trials.
Ministry of Justice modelling suggested the reforms would cut the number of jury trials from around 15,000 each year by half, reducing them from 3 per cent of criminal cases to just 1.5 per cent.
Speaking previously on BBC Radio Manchester, the prime minister-in-waiting acknowledged the enormous pressures facing the courts, but insisted that any reform touching such a fundamental right required overwhelming public and political support.
For Mr Burnham, improving efficiency could never come at the expense of public confidence in the justice system, making the defence of jury trials a likely defining issue of his looming political leadership.
