Alex Norris

But anyway, uh, Cassia, just to, uh, uh, wrap up then we'll finish.

Uh, what are the, uh, difficult choices that are coming up in Andy Burnham and Alex Norris' in-tray?

I think top of the list, sadly, is still prison capacity.

There's a chance that, you know, the exemptions that they've introduced mean, uh, we're gonna run out of space again.

So we're in 2026 now, and you still want to tell me this is going to take time.

Last month, Justice Minister Alex Norris said to expect a further announcement on his government's progress towards resolving the IPP situation later in 2026.

We'll be keeping an eye on that and we'll keep you updated as and when it happens.

That's here on Inside Europe with me, Kate Laycock.

Last night, the government got through the initial stage of the modified Courts and Tribunals Bill.

If you remember, Andy Burnham and, uh, Alex, uh, Norris, the new justice secretary, stripped out David Lammy's plans to remove juries from certain kinds of trials, but they did widen the scope of cases that magistrates, uh, can hear.

They can now sentence offenders, uh, to up to two years.

Now, broadly speaking, uh, this seems to have done the, the trick, at least politically, because there was a minimal, uh, rebellion, uh, last night, but, uh, there are, I think, still, uh, some potential questions about that is will magistrates want to do that, or will they still, if they have any doubt at all or feel that their expertise i- is not, you know, quite there to, to make those judgments, still want to refer it up the court chain, in which case the blockages [laughs] don't really get addressed.

Um, I discovered...

Here's a little scoop for this podcast.

I discovered another challenge in Alex Norris's brief at the other end of his kind of, um, of his, uh, of, of his department, and it's, um, it's from parliamentary questions.

But it's quite striking if you put several parliamentary questions together.

... of, of our system.

In a nutshell, if you were to sum up your opponent, Alex Norris, the current justice secretary, in a sentence or two, what would you say?

Well, I miss David Lammy.

[laughs]

...

he annoys them so much.

Alex Norris is kind of like punching a shadow.

I mean-

And in a previous job, I was one of the advisors to the Labour Party on violence against women and girls.

And the Lord Chancellor, Alex Norris, was actually one of the shadow policing ministers that I worked with who put together what I think is a transformative package of stuff on violence against women and girls, rape courts and domestic abuse courts to speed up that abhorrent process that is facing so many women as one.

Well, he's in a position

to implement

Check out the latest arrivals in store and on lululemon.com now.

[gentle music] So Ken, uh, let's, let's move on to these, uh, rather dramatic announcement by Alex Norris, the Justice Secretary at the weekend, about the U-turn on jury reform.

But, uh, at the same time as making [chuckles] that announcement in the early hours of Sunday morning, the Ministry of Justice also released this rather bizarre video which looks like Alex Norris is, is sort of talking or engaging with a fridge as he makes a cup of tea.

Unfortunately, obviously people will only hear an audio now.

[laughs] Oh, no.

We're also investing £287 million in court repairs, digital upgrades, and new facilities, giving staff the tools they need to deliver justice efficiently.

No single change will solve a challenge that has built up over many years, but we're pulling every lever to bring down the backlog and to deliver the swift justice that people deserve.

So interestingly, in that video, now Alex Norris doesn't actually mention anything about the plans to remove or to amend the proposal in the Courts and Tribunals Bill on jury trial.

Uh, I think Labor's cabinet is very weak.

I shadow Alex Norris who, uh, the f- the first wave of the early release scheme started on Thursday.

He went on to Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday having said that they were going to tag everybody coming out.

He was asked how many released prisoners are tagged, and he said, "Well, it's four days in.

I mean, that is so obviously contradictory regardless of your point of view.

I mean, Alex Norris, the justice secretary, was defending the government's position, and you could sort of see the cogs turning in his head of, "No, this doesn't quite add up, but I do have to say it because that's my job right now.

And just hope that Helen Lewis will just leave me alone if I just keep talking for long enough.

She has to move on at some point."