5th November 2024 - Jack Abbott MP raises court backlog in Parliament
- Nov 5, 2024
- 1 min read
On Tuesday 5th November 2024, I raised the ongoing backlog at Ipswich Crown Court in Parliament. Speaking in the House of Commons, I asked the Secretary of State for Justice, Shabana Mahmood, what steps she was taking to reduce this backlog.
The state that the previous Conservative government left our justice system in is dire. Statistics released earlier this year show that, at the end of 2023, there were over 1000 outstanding cases at Ipswich Crown Court, with the average case taking 249 days to progress. 144 cases had even been left unresolved for two years or more.
In her response, Heidi Alexander, Minister of State for Courts and Legal Services, assured me that steps were being taken to reduce the backlog the Government inherited, including relocating cases, where appropriate, to Cambridge, and increasing the number of sitting days.
I am grateful to the Government for working urgently to deal with the unforgivable mess left by the Conservatives. It means justice will be delivered for people in Ipswich and Suffolk as we look to fix our broken criminal justice system.
