Lammy is said by officials to have begun the “write round” – Whitehall jargon for obtaining final cross-Cabinet and departmental sign-off before going public.
Assuming he gets that approval, an announcement would come in December, with legislation in the New Year.
A spokesperson for the MoJ said: “No final decision has been taken by government. We have been clear there is a crisis in the courts, causing pain and anguish to victims – with 78,000 cases in the backlog and rising – which will require bold action to put right.”
But Riel Karmy-Jones KC, chair of the Criminal Bar Association which represents criminal barristers, said the proposals would not solve the crisis in justice.
She said: “What they propose simply won’t work – it is not the magic pill that they promise.
“The consequences of their actions will be to destroy a criminal justice system that has been the pride of this country for centuries, and to destroy justice as we know it.
“Juries are not the cause of the backlog. The cause is the systematic underfunding and neglect that has been perpetrated by this government and its predecessors for years.”
The Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch criticised the proposals, arguing juries “put ordinary men and women of every walk of life at the heart of justice.”
Writing on X, she described Labour’s plans as “a short term decision that risks fairness, undermines public trust, and erodes the very foundation of our justice system”.
“Conservatives believe in our traditions and we believe in trial by jury”, she added.
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Jess Brown-Fuller MP described the plans as “completely disgraceful” and accused the UK Government of “dismantling our justice system and failing victims in the process”.
She said the Liberal Democrats were calling for the government to “reconsider” its plans “as a matter of urgency”.
