Speeches by Paul.

““shows that Black defendants, older defendants, and female defendants elect for trial at the Crown Court at higher rates than other groups”.”

“The Sentencing Act 2026 now allows custodial sentences of up to three years to be suspended, and introduced presumption to suspend short custodial sentences. Those are changes that may well affect plea behaviour, sentencing outcomes and, in due course, trial volumes. They are, however, not obviously incorporated into t…”

“It gives concrete examples, such as:”

“”

“My hon. Friend is making some powerful points. Hearing him read out what the law says brings home to me just how terrible this Bill is. Surely everyone can see that there is no clarity how it would work. Rather than there being any clear guidance, it essentially feels as though any judge can have their own view on comp…”

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

“There is a strong case for the express focus on people from ethnic minority backgrounds. Professor Rebecca Helm’s recent work is especially helpful here, because it goes beyond general polling and looks specifically at the views of those who know the system from the inside, including jurors, defendants and ethnic minor…”

“Charlotte Schreurs and others argue from lived experience that delay is intolerable, and limited reform may be preferable to a justice system that does not function at all. I do not shy away from that view. Victims are absolutely right to be angry about delay, and they are right to say that the current position is into…”

“JUSTICE says that the Bill will not have an impact on the backlog until 2028-29, and that prison demand is not predicted to decline until 2034-35. The Institute for Government says that the gains are uncertain and may backfire. The Bar Council, the Law Society and others say that alternative productivity measures could…”

“Thank you for that guidance, Ms Jardine. I would suggest that the legal aid changes are a really important outcome of clause 6. In fact, I think I would come under huge criticism if I made this speech without mentioning legal aid, because I have not raised it at all—well, I did in an earlier speech. I have not raised i…”

““a binary choice, would prefer a judge-only trial over waiting years”.”

“Perhaps I am more optimistic about these things.”

“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.”

“It is a pleasure to start the day with you and end the day with you, Ms Jardine. I am sure you are very much enjoying starting your day with me and ending your day with me, too. [Laughter.] I have just realised how that can be interpreted. My apologies, Ms Jardine; I cannot account for the minds of other Members. To ge…”

“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, …”

“The reforms come at a time when the magistrates courts are themselves under very visible strain. JUSTICE says that magistrates generally sit for only around 13 full days per year, that cases in the magistrates’ courts have become less complex in recent years, and that the system is not currently set up to absorb a grea…”

“Some of the written evidence and survivor correspondence we have seen is plainly sympathetic to structural reform, including limited judge-only trials. Supplementary evidence from the Victims’ Commissioner broadly supports action on clauses 1 to 7, and says that many victims, if offered”

“Absolutely, Ms Jardine—we can go into the early hours of the morning if we need to, and I am happy to do so this evening if that is what people would like to do. In cases of offensive communications, malicious communications, harassment, stalking and other digital evidence-related cases, the line between criminality an…”

“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…”

“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…”