If you're talking about Jasminum officinale (white, twining, deciduous, fragrant climber) then the theory is that you should thin it out after flowering and reduce the flowered shoots in length. In practice, this shrub gets 30 feet if left unchecked, so most people find themselves taking the machete to it and not worrying about pruning it correctly in a desperate attempt to keep it under control. I just noticed that my book says if you continually cut it back hard, it eventually forms a self supporting bush - fascinating, never noticed that before. Anyway, yours is probably looking so awful currently because it's been such a tough winter - leave it alone until you see new growth and if there's any obvious dead areas or branches, cut those out then.

3 months later thanks for that! I did cut back a lot of the straps & I see good growth coming along fine, I intend to keep my eye on it now. Jo