Tories plans reduce defendants’ rights

New Tory plans will increase pressure on people arrested by police to plead guilty long before they even reach court.

Defendants get a third reduction of any future sentence if they plead guilty at the first opportunity—which is currently the first court hearing.

New proposals mean anyone arrested will be able to plead guilty in the police station.

This will put yet more pressure on people to plead guilty in the earliest stages of their cases.

Many people, particularly young people, do not have legal representation when they are interviewed by police.

The pressure to plead guilty on them and other vulnerable people will increase.

Far from “restoring civil liberties”, as they claim, the Tories aim to make the day-to-day running of the state ever more authoritarian.