Contributions
1,222 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Eighth sitting)I beg to move amendment 47, in clause 4, page 11, line 1, leave out from “is” to end of line 2, and insert “a right of appeal against a decision to make an order under this…21 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Eighth sitting)indicated assent .21 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Eighth sitting)To reiterate, as in clause 3, we risk creating an unfair dual standard for defendants. The Government accept that such defendants should have rights to a jury trial, but they will…21 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Eighth sitting)The only point I would add is that, as the Minister has accepted, this is a relatively small number of cases, so the test of what is justifiable is actually disproportionately…21 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Eighth sitting)I beg to move amendment 49, in clause 4, page 13, line 30, leave out “trial beginning on or” and insert “cases whose first hearing in the magistrates’ court takes place”. This…21 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Eighth sitting)Thank you, Ms Jardine, for taking the Chair as we continue this later sitting. Before we suspended, we were debating my amendment 53 to clause 6 in relation to the use of the…21 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Eighth sitting)I rise to speak in opposition to clause 4 and in support of amendment 51 in my name. I remind the Committee that this is not a new debate. As the Minister touched on, it is an…21 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Eighth sitting)If the schedule said complex and lengthy fraud cases, then the Minister might be able to argue that it is constrained, but the schedule is just “Trial on indictment without a…21 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Eighth sitting)Will the Minister give way?21 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Eighth sitting)I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight East for his remarks. I will paint a scenario for the Minister and ask whether she thinks it is one she will end up regretting…21 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Eighth sitting)I talked before about how judges will look to what Ministers have said around a measure in trying to interpret it, so if a judge is not clear what was meant by this, and pulls up…21 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Eighth sitting)Currently, when a person sits on a jury, it is understood that, outside of the most extreme circumstances, they will be there for as long as the case takes. However, if the public…21 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Eighth sitting)In earlier sittings, I spent some time testing the basis on which the Government are asking the Committee to accept the changes proposed in the Bill, particularly in relation to…21 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Eighth sitting)As I have talked about in earlier debates, uniquely in this situation we already know what the Lord Chancellor wanted to do. From leaks, we know that five years was the test, in…21 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Eighth sitting)As I mentioned, the Government have chosen to exclude all sexual offences. If that is the logic that the Government seek to apply, why have they chosen to not apply it to an…21 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Eighth sitting)I just want to pick up on some points. The point about the scale of the issue was well made by my hon. Friend the Member for Reigate, who pointed to 200 sitting days. She…21 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Eighth sitting)I will be quick. The public care about the Government’s justification for what they are doing, not what we have done. If the Government are leaning on what we have done in the…21 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Eighth sitting)I beg to move amendment 52, in clause 5, page 14, line 36, leave out subsection (5) and insert— “(5) The judgment must be given at the time of conviction, except where an…21 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Eighth sitting)To make it really clear, what is the minimum length that the Minister thinks would constitute a lengthy case?21 Apr 2026HANSARDCourts and Tribunals Bill (Seventh sitting)I am sure we will get to hear from the hon. Member for Birmingham Erdington shortly. The proposal in clause 3 is being framed as a mere administrative adjustment—a common-sense…21 Apr 2026