Speeches by Rigby.

“As I have already stated, the Law Officers’ convention does not permit me to reveal when the Attorney General has been asked for advice or when he has advised.”

“Thank you, Mr Speaker. The shadow Solicitor General raised the previous experience of the Attorney General. Lord Hermer is a very experienced barrister, and during his time in private practice—prior to his appointment to Government—he represented high-profile clients in a number of cases. It is a central and well-under…”

“I very much agree with my hon. Friend. The undermining of this foundational principle of our legal system has been extremely cynical.”

“I have not, no.”

“I am happy to take that, Chair. The SFO obviously prosecutes the most serious cases of fraud, bribery and corruption. Since 2020, in the last four years alone, the SFO has brought over £1 billion into the Treasury from penalties. It plays an incredibly important role. It is right to refer to the cases that the SFO cond…”

“I am happy to take at least a portion of that, Linsey. You are obviously right to refer to the vital role that the CPS has to play in the criminal justice system as a whole and indeed in the safer streets mission. We were successful in securing a robust settlement in the first round of the spending review of an additio…”

“Linsey, I am happy to take this. I have spoken to the DPP about it only very briefly. My understanding of where he was going with those remarks to the Committee was, as you say, to focus on the early guilty plea issue and the differential in fees. The DPP would say one of his priorities is to increase the number of ear…”

“We will be having discussions with colleagues in the same way that we will about the CPS, about the funding arrangement and the funding envelope. As we have referred to, both organisations play an incredibly important role in slightly different ways.”

“In relation to the report on disclosure, my understanding is that that is with the Home Secretary. Clearly, when it comes to the HO, we will review it and all the recommendations in detail. It is clearly important that we do that. On your wider point, Chair, there is and has been in the past an inequality of arms point…”

“I am sorry for triggering those horrible disclosure-related memories. I have some myself, so I know entirely what that is like. It is obviously really important that the technology that is being trialled, and that may well be implemented and expanded elsewhere, is used in the right way. Indeed, from the SFO’s point of …”

“I am happy to answer this one, Josh. Obviously, as you say, it is an issue I know you are doing an awful lot of campaigning on. I know you have a background and experience in all of these issues that you have brought to Parliament, which is absolutely fantastic. As you said, you are speaking out on these. You are clear…”

“Chair, if I might add to that, the changes to the legal risk guidance do not, in and of themselves, obviously make a particular policy riskier. You have mentioned one and there has been mention of others. It is obviously entirely right that Ministers are properly advised on risk. To come back to the point that the Atto…”

“I would only add to what the Attorney General says that I think the response to populism is a clear, cross-Government issue, not just for us but for Governments in other countries. I very much agree with and echo what the Attorney General says about embedding the rule of law. To come back to Pam’s question, for me the …”

“The first thing, Chair, is that it is an incredible privilege to serve this country in the role of Solicitor General. You are right; I have some experience of parliamentary politics, but, as the Attorney General says, the most important thing is the quality of our legal advice, which is delivered to Ministers in a robu…”

“I am Lucy Rigby MP. I am the Solicitor General.”

“To enable a better understanding of how the CPS works, one of the issues—in fact, the DPP made reference to this himself when he was giving evidence to your Committee—is that we need better data when it comes to the criminal justice system across the board, not just the CPS. Also, the CPS needs better technology. That …”

“Thank you for your questions.”

“I am happy to address that, Linsey. I want to acknowledge your background in the CPS, where no doubt you came into contact with all these types of issues, so I understand your expertise in all these areas. You are absolutely right; you are deeply familiar with the safer streets mission, and the Attorney General and I s…”

“Of course.”

“I am happy to take this one, Warinder. You are absolutely right to highlight this as a problem across the criminal justice system. On the third day after I was appointed, I went to the Old Bailey to meet with some of the counsel prosecuting some of the most serious types of RASSO offences to talk to them about a range …”