𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

MP Karl Turner, a prominent critic of the Government’s policy of restricting jury trials, has had the Labour whip suspended.

He previously said he was not expecting to lose the party whip but that he did “not care” if he did.

Mr Turner voted with the Conservatives on an opposition day motion opposing Sir Keir Starmer’s jury trial reforms in January.

Karl Turner said he has not been formally notified of his removal from the Labour parliamentary party.
The Kingston upon Hull East MP wrote on X: “I am being told that I have had the whip suspended but I have not had any notification from the whips about this. It seems journalists have been told but I have not.”

Speaking in January after voting against the Government, the former criminal barrister: “I do not expect to lose the party whip – but if I do, I do not care.

“I invite them to take the whip from me if they want – at least I believe in something. If they want to take the whip off someone who believes in something, then good luck to them.”

In a brutal attack on his own party colleagues last week, Mr Turner warned he was ready to work with opposition politicians to defeat the Government.

He said Justice Secretary David Lammy was determined to prove he was “the big strong guy” after the Government was forced to u-turn over other unpopular policies.

Mr Turner said: “The reality is, and I’m ashamed to have to say this, egos have got in the way.

“Politicians in my party, in government, have been in situations where they have lost. The rebellions have been too much.

“And I’m afraid David Lammy has thought, I’m going to prove that I’m the big strong guy here, and I’m going to get something that is clearly unpopular through.

“And the truth is that he’s going to do his best.”

Highlighting abstentions by Labour MPs in previous votes on the issue, Mr Turner said: “But I’m confident, with that number of abstentions, that we can amend the worst excesses. But we have to be realistic, and we have to work with the opposition benches, and anybody for that matter.”