This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter.

The only surprise about the Scottish Government’s decision to drop plans for juryless rape trials was that it took them so long.

The proposal — one of the biggest reforms to our legal system in years — never looked likely to survive contact with the real world.

There were many difficulties with the trial, suggested by Scotland's second most senior judge, Lady Dorrian, not least the 100% certainty that anyone convicted would appeal.

There was also the real likelihood that no lawyer in the country would have gone near the scheme.

During an early evidence sessions, the Scottish Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee heard that around 97% of Scottish solicitors were prepared to boycott the pilot.

The Scottish Solicitors Bar Association (SSBA) told MSPs that ministers were “experimenting with people's lives.”

Despite its good intentions, the policy always seemed doomed.

Read more from the Unspun political newsletter: 

So too, did the plan to cut the size of a jury but keep the number required for a guilty verdict at eight.

The government’s amendments mean it will remain at 15 and a two-thirds majority will still be required for conviction.

They are, however, pushing ahead with plans to scrap the not proven verdict. They will also attempt tweak contempt of court rules so jury members can be asked about their deliberations.

News that the pilot was scrapped emerged on Thursday, with Justice Secretary Angela Constance saying there was “not enough cross-party support at this time for such a pilot.”

However, I understand that while Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems would all have voted against, the Greens would likely have supported the Bill. The truth is there wasn’t enough support from Ms Constance’s own party.

At the Stage 1 vote on the general principles of the Bill, six SNP MSPs abstained, including then backbencher and now Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes.

To keep her job, she would obviously have had to vote with the government this time round, so too would fellow abstainer and now Minister for Public Finance Ivan McKee.

But even if they did, there would still have been a rebellion. John Swinney, who does not have a majority, simply cannot afford a rebellion.

One source said this had more to do with “internal opposition”.

There’s a real sense of frustration from both supporters and opponents of the policy. It’s worth remembering that just 48% of rape cases that made it to court in Scotland in 2021-22 resulted in a conviction.

That was down from 51% in 2020-21.

The overall conviction rate in Scotland for the same year was 88%.

Get Scotland's top politics newsletter straight to your inbox


There are, obviously, understandable reasons for this. It’s not fair to compare rape, where often it comes down to the word of two people, and, say, a break-in where there’s a trail of evidence.

But still, those figures are pretty paltry.

While the government is probably right to rethink unpopular policies, the challenge remains: how can Scotland’s legal system better serve those impacted by sexual violence without compromising fairness or support from the legal community?