Contributions
1,222 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Fourth sitting)I do not think I am being the least bit unfair. I did not even ask the Minister to give a list or specifics; I just asked whether the statistics were going down in some parts of…14 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Fourth sitting)It absolutely does—but the Minister is not doing what Sir Brian recommended. She is rejecting his approach, but when we want to reject his approach, she asks how we can possibly…14 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Fourth sitting)The Minister is to some extent varying her argument. Earlier in the debate, she accepted that these things are a matter of gravity and of weighing up, and inherent in saying that…14 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Fourth sitting)As we heard from the Criminal Bar Association and others during the evidence sessions, we do not accept that the Government have sufficiently justified that modelling. Modelling…14 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Fourth sitting)Yes, and I will be writing to the CPS about that, because commenting in the way that it has was extremely unusual. I would hope that it has a very clear explanation as to how it…14 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Third sitting)Will the Minister give way?14 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Third sitting)Absolutely. I have been very careful in writing my speech to not say that and to be clear about that. Again, when we have had debates about people causing the backlog and holding…14 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Fourth sitting)I covered all the statistics on the reforms that the hon. Member for Rugby mentioned this morning. The scale of these changes, compared with the scale of those changes, is…14 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Fourth sitting)What does not bear up to much scrutiny is for the Minister to say, “Actually, the package as a whole will deliver these major reforms,” because we do not object to the whole…14 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Fourth sitting)The point was made very powerfully in the evidence sessions that we have this idea that we have to take a lot of time to explain all this complex stuff to a jury, and that we can…14 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Fourth sitting)Reflecting on what has been said, I think that confusion remains. I welcome the further remarks from the Minister, but I am still not clear on whether there will be any impact in…14 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Fourth sitting)On a point of order, Ms Butler. This speaks to the heart of the confusion at the start of the debate. On the one hand, the Minister wants to say that it is arbitrary and…14 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Fourth sitting)It would assist the Committee to know why we are making these comparisons. I have figures on the effect of the reclassification of criminal offences in the Criminal Justice Act…14 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Fourth sitting)My final point in opposition to clauses 1 and 2 is that the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull East (Karl Turner), who is not here today, would have had a lot to say during our…14 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Fourth sitting)rose—14 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Fourth sitting)I do. In the other direction, the Institute for Government highlights that “only around 30% of sentences of 6-12 months were handed out by magistrates” since their sentencing…14 Apr 2026HANSARD Dualling of the A21It is a pleasure to have secured this Adjournment debate on the dualling of the A21 in my constituency. I thank the House authorities for giving me this opportunity, because the…14 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Fourth sitting)Sorry—I am not clear that there will not be real-world consequences in the kind of ways that the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull East will understand. The Minister nodded her…14 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Fourth sitting)I rise to speak in support of amendment 39 tabled in my name. As I touched on earlier this morning, along with amendments 23 and 24—which are driving at the same point, but in…14 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Fourth sitting)The point I am making is that we actually do not know that, because we do not know how many people used to practise who could now practise again. I absolutely agree with the…14 Apr 2026