November 30, 2025
Sailesh Mehta appeared on the flagship LBC breakfast show hosted by Matthew Wright on 30th November 2025.
He spoke about the leaked Government proposals to limit jury trials to murder, manslaughter, rape and “the most serious and public interest cases”.
Sailesh explained:
-how the Home Secretary was wrong on almost every aspect of the rationale for the proposals: he had misunderstood the Magna Carta [1215] which promised defendants “lawful judgment of his peers”
-the Home Secretary has not addressed the problems of vacant Courtrooms where on an average day between 10% and 30% of Courtrooms are unused
-the proposals are uncosted and there is no evidence put forward that suggests the backlog of cases will decrease
-Sailesh accepted that if any proposal guaranteed a reduction in the backlog, then it would be worth looking at seriously- as a temporary measure. He commented: “But, as every historian, political commentator and human rights lawyer knows – once a right has been taken away by the State, it never returns. We should therefore be vigilant in defence of every right that those in power seek to take from us.”
Sailesh Mehta is a criminal and human rights lawyer. He was one of the founding members of the Bar Human Rights Committee. He lectures here and abroad to Judges and lawyers on legal topics. He is a member of The Criminal Bar Association
Listen from 02:09:50 https://lnkd.in/eKbvFS9j
Barristers
Sailesh Mehta
Call: 1986