Speeches by Fox.

“My constituents are opposed to digital ID, and I welcome the Minister’s U-turn—I look forward to him being given responsibility for jury trials as well. The problem is that digital ID will have no effect on illegal working or illegal migration, because employers that ignore the system at the moment will continue to ign…”

“May I agree with the point raised by the hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Rachel Blake)? In the village of Cossington, there is a small housing estate that had the misfortune to be managed by FirstPort. My residents had to put up with unexplained charges, poor service and a complete lack of transparenc…”

“The Secretary of State is going to pay a floating wind farm £216 per megawatt-hour. Can he explain how that will lower fuel prices for my constituents?”

“Chair, can we ask Cassia Rowland to come in? I know the Institute for Government has made some comments on the productivity of the court, and I am very keen to hear from some of the other witnesses.”

“And in your view, addressing those matters would have far more of an effect than scrapping jury trials?”

“I think the idea that the resources and the concordat are anything to do with the publishing of the modelling is a complete red herring. You could just decide to publish it if you chose to. You have chosen not to, but that is your choice.”

“I think the idea that the resources and the concordat are anything to do with the publishing of the modelling is a complete red herring. You could just decide to publish it if you chose to. You have chosen not to, but that is your choice.”

“May I suggest that you publish this as soon as possible? Making such a dramatic change to what many of my constituents regard as an ancient constitutional right to save time, and then presenting no evidence as to the saving of that time, is a grave error by the Government. That is entirely up to you, but I think you ar…”

“May I suggest that you publish this as soon as possible? Making such a dramatic change to what many of my constituents regard as an ancient constitutional right to save time, and then presenting no evidence as to the saving of that time, is a grave error by the Government. That is entirely up to you, but I think you ar…”

“All right. Given Leveson’s admission that incomplete modelling was undertaken, what independent analysis has your Ministry conducted to validate that judge-only trials will deliver net time savings once written judgments and appeals are factored in?”

“Most people would regard that as a retrospective change.”

“Ms Rowland, tell us your views on how productivity in the Crown court system might be improved. I am conscious that the Institute for Government has said that productivity of the Crown court has declined, and that the number of cases being dealt with each day is down 10% since 2016. Putting aside talk about scrapping j…”

“That is not what the Lord Chancellor said before Christmas.”

“Minister, if you have been committed to trial in the Crown court at the moment, you are expecting to have a jury trial, and what you are telling me is that once these changes take effect, you will divert those people committed but whose trial has not started into the swift court.”

“All right. Given Leveson’s admission that incomplete modelling was undertaken, what independent analysis has your Ministry conducted to validate that judge-only trials will deliver net time savings once written judgments and appeals are factored in?”

“Let me move on, because the Lord Chancellor might well have been confused.”

“That, I think, is fundamentally different to what the Lord Chancellor said a few weeks ago.”

“Good afternoon. I am Ashley Fox, the Member for Bridgwater. I am a former solicitor and my interests are on the register.”

“No, he said the changes would not be retrospective, and now you are giving me a slightly different answer. If someone elects to go to the Crown court at the moment, it is on the assumption that there will be a trial by jury. What you are saying is that it might not be; they might be diverted to the swift court.”

“So when the Lord Chancellor said it will not be retrospective, that was not a wholly accurate answer.”