David Kennedy, speaking at the Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow, said extending opening times of courts is the only way to tackle the backlog.

Courts typically sit between 9am and 5pm.

Mr Kennedy said: “Policing and criminality is 24/7, yet we’ve got a court system that does a 9-5. The maths of that don’t add up.

“So you’re always going to be fighting against a backlog. Unless you actually weigh up the priorities right where everything is getting done in time, we’re always going to potentially have this backlog – we’re never going to get rid of it.”

He added: “Policing is 24/7, criminals are 24/7. We need to look at the working day of the court, the people that look at the cases in the court system.

“We’ve advocated to have a fiscal within the police office so if somebody’s brought in, they actually make a decision there and then.”

The Law Society of Scotland warned, however, that the proposal is not viable.

Stuart Munro, convener of the Law Society of Scotland’s Criminal Law Committee, said: “Police are a vital part of our criminal justice system and should be supported to do their jobs effectively and efficiently. However, applying their working patterns to the courts and wider justice sector makes little sense.

“Scottish criminal courts regularly run outside standard business hours, including late into the evening and on public holidays, and any suggestion otherwise bears no resemblance to the longstanding reality for people working in our courts.

“The backlogs in our system relate overwhelmingly to trials and not the initial steps after someone is arrested. In simple terms, there are not enough criminal solicitors and other justice sector personnel to keep our courts running efficiently now.

“A more sensible proposal would be to run additional court hearings during business hours to reduce the overall pressure on the system.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, said: “We are now dealing with a substantial increase in court business which is placing pressure on a system with finite capacity.

“SCTS and justice partners are currently not resourced to facilitate the extension of the hours at which courts sit.”

Justice Secretary Angela Constance said: “The number of outstanding scheduled trials has fallen by more than 50 per cent since January 2022 and we continue to support justice partners to address the backlog.

“The 2025-26 budget includes £20.3 million for justice recovery.

“A successful pilot approach to summary case management to bring earlier resolution to victims and witnesses is being rolled out nationally, as is the Scottish Government’s £33m Digital Evidence Sharing Capability initiative, which has seen cases coming to court and concluding more quickly.”