Hull MP Karl Turner has Labour party whip suspended
He's led criticism of the government's plans to restrict jury trials in England and Wales
Last updated 33 minutes ago
It's understood the MP for Hull East, Karl Turner, has had the Labour party whip suspended.
This means he won't be able to represent the party in the Commons.
He's led criticism of the government's plans to restrict jury trials in England and Wales as it attempts to reduce a record backlog in the Crown Courts.
He'll now represent his constituency in Kingston upon Hull as an independent.
The Press Association understands he was informed by Chief Whip Jonathan Reynolds that he was suspending the whip “following his recent conduct”.
In a statement on X, the MP said he hadn't been notified by the whips though:
He says he's disappointed in his suspension:
As well as leading Labour resistance on the jury trial issue, Mr Turner questioned the circumstances around the theft of the Prime Minister’s former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney’s mobile phone and with it potentially messages to Lord Peter Mandelson.
He called the former aide to Sir Keir Starmer “McSwindle”.
Mr Turner also said the Gorton and Denton by-election defeat to the Greens was “catastrophic”.
He blamed the decision to block Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham from running for the seat.
It is arguably as a leading critic of the Courts and Tribunals Bill that he has caused the most difficulty to the Government.
He abstained when the legislation had its first Commons test on 10th March, but said he planned amendments to strip the Bill of the “completely unworkable, unpopular, unjust and unnecessary” measures restricting access to a crown court jury trial.
Mr Turner had previously threatened to quit the Commons and trigger a by-election over the proposals, which would see cases with a likely sentence of three years or less being heard by a single crown court judge, and magistrates’ courts taking on cases with a likely sentence of up to two years.
He held his seat in 2024 with a majority of 3,920 over Reform UK.