Unpopular opinion: I’m not necessarily opposed to this. Real concerns magistrates’ courts will give harsher sentences. But with '000s of people in prison for months or years waiting for a trial because of the dire state of courts, this might be the lesser evil. www.theguardian.com/law/2024/oct...

Ministers to give magistrates in England and Wales more sentencing powers

Exclusive: Plan to cut backlogs by doubling maximum term from six to 12 months was tried before by Tories

Ideally, I’d combine it with other measures – like a presumption to suspend short sentences (as proposed in the Tories’ Sentencing Bill). This could mitigate or reverse any rise in people serving custodial sentences but still ease pressure on the Crown Court, and hopefully cut reoffending.