Senior Conservative MPs are backing a cross-party motion calling on the government to conduct an urgent review of the controversial joint enterprise laws.

Despite a supreme court ruling two years ago concluding that the legislation had been wrongly interpreted for decades, there have been no successful appeals against conviction.



The legal principle of joint enterprise, also known as common purpose, dates back 300 years and regulates charges where the accused acts in conjunction with the killer but does not strike the blow that causes death.

In 2016, the supreme court said that judges had been confusing foresight of a possible fatal consequences with intent that there should be a killing. A series of appeals brought under the new legal interpretation have not, however, resulted in any verdicts being overturned.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission has received 99 fresh applications from people convicted under the old joint enterprise law. It has, however, rejected two-thirds of them and is considering the remainder.

Prominent Tories calling for a more fundamental review of the law include the chair of the justice select committee, Bob Neill, former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell, and Sir Peter Bottomley.

A parlimentary debate on Thursday will vote on a motion for the government to review the law and “bring forward legislative proposals” to clarify joint enterprise.

It is supported by the group Joint Enterprise: Not Guilty by Association, which represents many of the families of those jailed for joint enterprise. It believes that the law has been used to target young people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds by associating them unjustifiably with ‘gangs’.



The Labour MP Lucy Powell, who helped organise the debate, said: “Campaigners thought that after the supreme court ruling, the criminal justice system would reset itself on joint enterprise … This clearly isn’t the case.



“It can’t be right that there has been no material change since the supreme court ruling. This debate gives parliament the chance to make its view clear and for ministers to listen and act to ensure the law is clarified and we put an end to these injustices.”

Neill said: “This issue has been put on the government’s ‘too difficult to do’ pile for far too long. While the current system remains in place, we continue to run the risk of serious injustices. A number of recent cases have shown why it’s so important that we take a fresh look at the law on homicide.”

Mitchell said: “Thousands of people are estimated to have been prosecuted under joint enterprise over the last decade alone, with a wealth of evidence suggesting that it disproportionately affects those who identify as black, Asian and minority ethnic.

“It is … startling that our courts are so keen to block appeals by those who may have been convicted by error of the courts.”

The Labour MP David Lammy, whose government-backed review highlighted inequalities in the criminal justice system, said: “My review called for a wide-ranging review of how the CPS approaches gang prosecutions, and this includes a review of how the doctrine of joint enterprise is used as well as measures such as the Trident Matrix, a database that is almost entirely comprised of individuals from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds.

“We can only deal with these problems by focusing on the gang leaders and kingpins who are driving violence by trafficking drugs, exploiting young people and arming them to defend gang territory or seek out new drug markets.”