A proposal to give magistrates the power to jail someone for up to a year for a single offence would have a 'devastating impact'.

Magistrates will be able to hand out jail terms of up to a year - up from the current maximum of six months - in the latest effort announced by Dominic Raab to reduce the number of outstanding cases and the pressure faced by crown courts during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Ministry of Justice estimates giving magistrates greater sentencing powers could free up almost 2,000 extra days of crown court time a year. An amendment to the Judicial Review and Courts Bill will mean the government will have powers to reverse the change if needed.

Stuart Matthews, a partner at Oxford-based solicitors’ firm Reeds, said changes to the sentencing rules would have a ‘devastating impact’ on the justice system, including hitting already-struggling criminal law barristers’ incomes by reducing legal aid work at the crown court.

“This government’s solution to any problem in the criminal justice system is to lock more people up and that is what is going to happen. Our prison system is going to creak further and more people are going to go to prison,” Mr Matthews said.

He added: “Magistrates’ courts have progressively over the last decade become focused on speed and that is to the expense of dealing with cases properly.

“If you are dealing with somebody who has a lot at stake, charged with an either way offence [that can be dealt with by magistrates’ or crown court], who is of good character, I don’t know a criminal practitioner who would ever suggest a trial in front of magistrates as opposed to a trial in front of a jury.”

Human rights lawyer Kirsty Brimelow, the vice chairman of barristers’ group Criminal Bar Association said the prospect of being jailed for longer by a magistrate could see defendants elect to have their case heard by a crown court.

She told Radio 4's Today programme: "The issue with a backlog, which was there before the pandemic, is not about sentencing powers - that's really rearranging the deck chairs.

"It is about lack of investment in the criminal justice system ... it needs money into the system, and it needs barristers who are actually going to prosecute and defend in these cases. And what we're seeing is a huge attrition of barristers leaving the profession."

Dominic Raab, the Lord Chancellor, defended the plans against suggestions that they may result in more people ‘electing’ to have their trial heard by a crown court jury or appealing sentences to a circuit judge.

He told the BBC: “We looked at this very carefully.

"This measure ... will mean cases can come to court quicker, which means greater justice for victims, more criminals seeing justice earlier.

“Our estimate is it will reduce the strain on the crown courts by around 1,700 cases."

Bev Higgs, the national chairman of the Magistrates’ Association, welcomed the proposed changes.

She said: “We have been campaigning for years for magistrates’ sentencing powers to be extended to 12 months for single offences, so we are delighted with the Lord Chancellor’s announcement.

“It is absolutely the right time to re-align where cases are heard to ensure a safe, effective, and efficient justice system and this demonstrates great confidence in the magistracy.”