Speeches by Paul.

“If we are increasing the sentence in the magistrates court, I would imagine the Minister will agree that, in some situations, we are increasing the complexity of the case. For example, a sexual assault case could be quite complicated and require, in order to look after the alleged victim and make sure their wellbeing i…”

“The Bar Council says the proposal introduces an extra layer of hearings and complication. JUSTICE says that the allocation of cases will lengthen the PTPH, and that the process of reallocation will lengthen it further. If Ministers have accounted for that, they should show their workings. If they have not, the headline…”

“For all those reasons, I oppose clause 3 standing part of the Bill. It rests on an arbitrary and unstable three-year threshold and asks courts to make constitutionally significant decisions at exactly the stage when the evidence is often incomplete, but then tries to patch over that unreliability through reallocation, …”

“It is helpful to have a debate on new clause 29 for a very simple reason: if the Government insist on pressing ahead with clause 3, with all the constitutional, practical and equality concerns that surround it, the very least that Parliament should require is a proper, time-limited, evidence-based review of who has bee…”

“I thank you for making that point, Ms Jardine. I just emphasise how serious the changes in this legislation are. I know the Opposition are willing to put in the hours that are needed to go through the full detail, so that everyone can say what they need to. I imagine the Government are equally keen to spend the hours r…”

““The Lammy Review suggests that trust in the CJS, including magistrates, may be a factor”.”

““there is still a lot of uncertainty attached to the potential benefits of the government’s proposed structural reforms. There is also a serious risk that they could backfire and cause further declines in both productivity and performance.””

““In 2021, 20% of female defendants elected compared to 14% of male defendants.””

“I completely agree with my hon. Friend. What is considered complex and lengthy could be quite subjective. We all know that we are potentially going to end up in the courts over defining exactly what is complex and lengthy. It feels like the Bill is not written clearly enough for us to understand exactly how it will wor…”

““In the final decision, power is…never concentrated in the hands of one individual.””

“It will no doubt be a relief to Members to hear that I am not going to talk for quite as long as I did this morning. I oppose clause 4 and schedule 1 standing part, and I support amendment 51, tabled in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle. As is becoming habit, I will begin with a very brief ov…”

“If the Government truly believe clause 3 is fair, proportionate and necessary, why would they resist a review clause of this kind? New clause 29 has no impact on what the Government are proposing. It simply says that if you alter one of the most important protections in the criminal justice system and you know there ar…”

“Parliament must not impose clause 3 blindfolded. Lammy’s own review taught us that juries matter because they diffuse prejudice, expose bias to scrutiny, and prevent power from being concentrated in one person. The Government’s own equality statement tells us that black defendants and women elect jury trials more often…”

“There is another point that reinforces the need for new clause 29: the demographic profile of those who will be making more of these decisions if clause 3 stands. Diversity among circuit judges who would hear judge-alone trials is particularly worrying: only 36% are women and only 10% are from minority ethnic backgroun…”

““more likely to want a jury””

“New clause 29 would not fix clause 3. It would not cure the problem of taking jury trial away from defendants who currently have it. It would not cure the arbitrary three-year threshold, the retrospective effect, the absence of an appeal, the risk of miscarriages of justice, or the reality that a single judge may be as…”

“The Government’s consistent position has been that the reforms are justified, proportionate and fair. If that is truly their view, they should have no objection to being required to come back to Parliament and show their working in the light of experience. Resistance to the new clause would therefore be highly revealin…”

“Critically, Professor Helm also found that”

“One of the strongest arguments for new clause 29 is that the Government’s own evidence base is plainly incomplete. The equalities statement accompanying the Bill makes a series of important omissions. It says that historical data for triable either-way offences”

“For our justice system to have legitimacy, it often depends on the public seeing that the law has been tested against ordinary moral judgment. There will be occasions when not everyone likes the verdict. I am afraid I am not a fan of the decision taken in the Colston four case, but I accept and respect it. It is that a…”