Speeches by Sackman.

“I think there is an argument about going further. I am sorry; I am hogging the mic, and I should pass it over to my colleagues. I think we need to think about elected officials more broadly. Clearly, the focus of the Conference is MPs, but there are councillors and others in elected roles as well, and candidates, inclu…”

“Again, I have given this quite a lot of thought. Perhaps my initial knee-jerk reaction, particularly in respect to what happened to Mike Freer, was that I could not believe that we do not have a specific offence. I think with the fullness of time, and thinking about how our criminal law operates and how it can be most …”

“Can I put this in a little bit of context? I speak with my MP hat on here as much as my ministerial hat on. My predecessor in this office—both in my ministerial office and my predecessor as MP for Finchley and Golders Green—was Mike Freer. Mike and I should have had the chance to face each other at the ballot box, but …”

“Obviously, the utilisation of those sorts of orders are ultimately a matter of judicial discretion; it is important, of course, that we respect the independence of the judiciary. One of the things that has become apparent through the work of this Conference is trying to understand whether there is consistency of practi…”

“My name is Sarah Sackman. I am the Member of Parliament for Finchley and Golders Green, and I am the Minister for Courts and Legal Services in the Ministry of Justice.”

“That sounds reasonable and sensible. I suspect that the practice of the CPS is to apply for expedition, but guidance on that would certainly not hurt.”

“I think that is a very fair point. Of course, there would also have to be no discrimination between different candidates because, once you are in an election, the fact that you are the incumbent falls away. I absolutely take that point.”

“That is very true.”

“To add briefly to what Lucy said, I think that in practice our courts, in completely different circumstances, are well used to responding rapidly when that is germane to the matter at hand, such as seeking an urgent injunction out of court hours. You referred to the response to the Southport riots. I think that in thos…”

“We hear concerns from lots of different angles about threats to MPs coming from members of the public, with those who participate or seek to be candidates themselves being the source of the abuse and intimidation. We have to make sure that our police, the CPS and judges applying the law are equipped with the right suit…”

“I would not put in question for one minute the court’s understanding of both criminal and election law. While these cases are unusual, in my experience, when election offences, or ordinary criminal offences that pertain to MPs and candidates, come before the courts, they tend to be, under criminal practice directions, …”

“All I would add, and I suspect colleagues will agree with me, and maybe Lucy too, given that we are both new MPs, is that before I got into this place, and even since I have been elected, people would come up to me—friends, families and complete strangers sometimes—and they would say, “Gosh, you must be mad to put your…”

“If I may just chime in on this discussion about centralisation, the attractions of centralisation are the ones that you have outlined. You build expertise, and you have a single focal point that MPs around the country can call into. These are unusual cases. It is about good resource management. I want to pick up on one…”

“Hear, hear!”

“Exactly. That is precisely the attraction. We need to be aware of the temptation of simply expanding and creating highly specific offences, but in the sentencing space, recognising the independence of the Sentencing Council, that approach and direction of travel is something that we should explore.”

“I think that is a perfectly credible argument, precisely in the way that you have put it. Again, I think it warrants careful thought. It is not Government policy as of today.”

“I think there is an argument about going further. I am sorry; I am hogging the mic, and I should pass it over to my colleagues. I think we need to think about elected officials more broadly. Clearly, the focus of the Conference is MPs, but there are councillors and others in elected roles as well, and candidates, inclu…”

“Again, I have given this quite a lot of thought. Perhaps my initial knee-jerk reaction, particularly in respect to what happened to Mike Freer, was that I could not believe that we do not have a specific offence. I think with the fullness of time, and thinking about how our criminal law operates and how it can be most …”

“Can I put this in a little bit of context? I speak with my MP hat on here as much as my ministerial hat on. My predecessor in this office—both in my ministerial office and my predecessor as MP for Finchley and Golders Green—was Mike Freer. Mike and I should have had the chance to face each other at the ballot box, but …”

“Obviously, the utilisation of those sorts of orders are ultimately a matter of judicial discretion; it is important, of course, that we respect the independence of the judiciary. One of the things that has become apparent through the work of this Conference is trying to understand whether there is consistency of practi…”