John Swinney has voiced concerns over the Scottish Government’s plans to slash jury numbers.

The comments from the former deputy first minister came after the Lord Advocate warned that the reforms would make it “more difficult to get a conviction” in sexual crimes.

The Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill seeks to reduce the number of jurors in criminal trials from 15 to 12.

However, the number of jurors needed for a guilty verdict would remain at eight.

READ MORE: Lord Advocate 'concerned' over SNP plan to reduce jury size

Other measures in the proposed legislation - introduced because of concerns over the low levels of convictions for rapes and other sexual offences - including the scrapping of Scotland’s unique and often controversial not proven verdict.

Last week, the law officer told MSPs that the two-thirds majority could ultimately undermine confidence in justice.

She said there could be a “potentially unsatisfactory situation” where seven members of a jury return a verdict of guilty, while five opt for not guilty.

“But in the absence of a requirement for a majority of not guilty to be returned, a not guilty verdict would result, although the minority of the jury reached this verdict.

“So I suggest that this situation is more than undesirable than the existing difficulties caused by the not proven verdict, and would be unsatisfactory for both the accused and the complainer.”

On Wednesday morning, Angela Constance, the Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Justice was being quizzed on the new legislation by Holyrood's Justice committee. 

The minister told MSPs that recognised that there were “particular challenges for sexual offences".

She said Not Proven was often seen as a “compromise verdict".

“In a two verdict system, juries, of course, don't have that option. They have to decide whether someone is innocent or guilty".

She added: “But I also have to recognise that the evidence as it stands, it shows that the balance is tilted when you move from three verdicts to two and that the whole raison d'etre of I suppose all of our reforms is to absolutely improve access to justice, but to do so in a way that improves life and experience for complainers, that doesn't compromise the rights of the accused.”

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Mr Swinney told the minister he was “worried” about “the risk of imbalance" in the legislation.

He said: "When I read the evidence of the Lord Advocate, I am worried that there is, as a consequence of this, the risk of imbalance in relation to complainants compared to where we are today. And the whole purpose of this legislation is because none of us are happy about where we are today.

 

"I think the government needs to explore whether there is sufficiently compelling evidence of the need for a compensatory action in relation to jury size and composition, given the fact that the not proven verdict amounts to the same as a not guilty verdict.

"And I'd encourage the government to consider further whether the evidence exists to substantiate that point."

The minister said she would take his point on board. She said the Bill was “a marathon as opposed to a sprint".