Speeches by Paul.

“It is vital to remember what sort of justice is being appealed from. Appeals from the magistrates court are not appeals from jury verdicts; they are appeals from decisions made in a jurisdiction in which there is no jury, where proceedings are intended to be quicker and simpler, where legal aid is harder to obtain, and…”

“That is why the existing system makes sense. The magistrates court is not recorded and reviewed in the way that a Crown court jury trial is, so the present appeal system cannot be seen as a luxury; it is the mechanism by which error, questions of credibility, misjudgment and unfairness can be corrected in a jurisdictio…”

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“That leads me naturally to my second point: the numbers do not support reform. Sir Brian Leveson noted that only about 0.4% of magistrates court decisions were appealed in 2024. The Bar Council quotes that figure directly, alongside the success rates of 41% and 44%, so we are dealing with a very small slice of the over…”

“That matters politically and substantively. If the Government want magistrates courts to do more serious work, to keep more serious cases and, potentially, to impose longer prison terms, it is perverse to at the same time make it harder to challenge the outcomes of that expanded jurisdiction. One might have thought tha…”

“One of the most troubling aspects of schedule 2 is the proposed permission stage itself. The Crown court would grant permission only if it is”

“Finally, I want to be very clear that none of these points should be read as minimising the concerns of survivors. As I have said, it is about getting the right balance. Both sides are important, and at the end of the day, it is all about safety. We need to keep children as safe as we possibly can.”

“For all those reasons, I oppose clause 7 and schedule 2. The current appeal route from the magistrates court exists for a reason. It is a vital safeguard used in a tiny proportion of cases, but succeeds at a strikingly high rate. The Government’s proposed replacement would introduce a narrower permission-based, paper-h…”

“The introduction of a paper application with no right to an oral hearing is a flaw. Even in appeals from the Crown court to the Court of Appeal, a refused paper application may be renewed orally. The Bar Council is clear that, where a decision is made on paper, there should be a safeguard in the form of a right to rene…”

“I also oppose schedule 2, which would insert proposed new sections 108A to 108V into the Magistrates’ Court Act 1980. This is a comprehensive replacement framework. It is what introduces the permission requirement, the new grounds test, the single judge model, the new retrial provisions and the narrowing of what the ap…”

“There is a final and wider point here about confidence in the system. It seems obvious that restricting appeals will undermine confidence in jury-less justice. The magistrates court already lacks the democratic legitimacy and public reassurance that comes from jury trial. The answer to that deficit is not to make appel…”

“It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq. I do not support clause 7 or schedule 2. I welcome the debate on various amendments and the comments from the Minister. Clause 7 and schedule 2 would replace the current automatic right of appeal from the magistrates court to the Crown court with a much narrower…”

“Moreover, a court would be required to set out in its judgment how it has applied each part of the welfare checklist in determining the child’s best interests. Both Parents Matter says that approach would provide a clearer framework, improve transparency and support more structured, child-centred decision making. I am …”

“There is also a question of timing. The Family Services Foundation draws our attention to the Pathfinder pilot, which uses a more investigative and problem-solving model to identify risk early and to improve safety for children and parents who experience domestic abuse. It says that early stages appear to be showing po…”

“The same is true on sentence. Members may recall a piece of written evidence that we received from a witness describing how, after a magistrates court conviction for criminal damage said to have caused zero pounds-worth of damage, an immediate three-month custodial sentence was imposed. Her co-defendant appealed and th…”

“I do not make that point to turn the debate away from victims of abuse, but we need to be mindful of the whole picture. As with most things, it is about trying to get the balance right. It will never be perfect, but we have to make sure that it does not go too far one way or the other. We should think about not only th…”

“Five-hundred sitting days reclaimed is not nothing, but in the context of the overall criminal court crisis, it is modest at best. It is also far from obvious that those days would be saved, once one accounts for permission applications, arguments about grounds, challenges over transcripts, and the possibility that ret…”

“I would appreciate some clarity from the Minister on the deviation from the recommendations of the Law Commission—again, just so that we are clear. To refresh her memory, the Law Commission, in its written evidence, states that “Clause 10 does not implement our recommendations in two key respects. (1) It does not imple…”

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“I agree with my hon. Friend. Frankly, I am shocked that a Labour Government would do that. It is the last thing I expected of a Labour Government.”