“Bulk Hire” Magistrates

The charismatic and obviously brilliant David Lammy, the Justice Secretary, has announced a media campaign costing £4 million to “turbocharge” the recruitment of volunteers to be Magistrates with the aim of adding 6,000 over the next three years.

The campaign is deliberately aimed at younger people. The aim is to get the court backlog down, combined with a reduction in the right to a jury trial. It is blindingly obvious that an increase of non-legally, qualified part-time volunteers, especially with young people, will result in rough justice and miscarriages.

David Lammy might do better in allowing Magistrates to sit beyond the age of 75, which is the current compulsory retirement age. In practice, nobody over 70 is appointed.

Assuming that the Magistrate has all his or her faculties, to throw away huge experience of life is plain stupid.

Rodney Hylton-Potts
May 2026