Barry Sheerman, the Labour MP for Huddersfield, said the law was wrongly interpreted for more than 30 years and used to jail people who now find it incredibly difficult to appeal.

He said MPs “must act to right this injustice” and urged them to back his bill, which would amend the Criminal Appeal Act 1968 to allow people to appeal against a criminal conviction when there has been “a material change” in the law.

Until 2016, the joint enterprise law was used to convict people who could have reasonably foreseen that their associate was about to commit a violent act.

It proved to be extremley controversial, particularly in murder cases, as associates who were found guilty recieved mandatory life sentences.

But in the case for R v Jogee in 2016, the Supreme Court found that judges had taken a “wrong turn” and “equated foresight with intent”, when defendants should only be convicted if they “encouraged or assisted the crime”.

Mr Sheerman, Chair of The All Party Parliamentary Group on Miscarriages of Justice, said it was a “moment of legal history” as people realised a “colossal error had been made”.

“You would have expected that after such a significant change, there would have been a wave of successful appeals,” he said.

“This hasn’t been the case. Last year, only two out of 103 appeals made, with reference to Jogee, were successful.”

Few are granted because the court takes a “restrictive approach” and only allows appeals when a person can show they have suffered “substantial injustice”, he said.

Mr Sheerman added: “The system places a disproportionate burden on the appellant.

“In my view, 30 years of erroneously applying the common law should amount to substantial injustice and the people who have been convicted under this law deserve to have their appeals heard.”

He presented a bill in Parliament, which seeks to amend the Criminal Appeal Act 1968, without opposition. The next hearing is set for January 20 next year.

Yorkshire MP calls for law change to allow more appeals after courts make 'colossal error'