Speeches by Vaughan.

“The situation my hon. Friend describes is symptomatic of what I call the begging bowl approach of trying to reinstate routes, where a private company decides how it will run the service, it cuts the routes that are more difficult to make money on but which people really need, and we all go with our begging bowl, bangin…”

“I completely agree with the hon. Member. Central Government have to support local government in properly funding bus services. As I will come on to say, that is exactly what this Government have been doing, but the critical question will be whether those local authorities spend the money in a way that benefits passenge…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered e-petition 702845 relating to free bus travel for people over 60. Happy new year, Mr Mundell. It is, as always, a privilege to serve under your chairship. I start by thanking the petition’s creator, Mrs Karen Hickman, and the 101,000 people who signed the petition—including…”

“Research commissioned by DSIT estimates that by 2035 approximately 10 million UK workers will be in jobs where AI will be part of their responsibilities. PwC estimates that 18% of existing UK jobs face a high probability of automation by 2035, so what steps are the Government taking to ensure that young people in my co…”

“6. What steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for Education to support young people to develop AI skills.”

“I am Tony Vaughan, the MP for Folkestone and Hythe. I am a practising barrister, also with a valid practising certificate. I am an associate tenant of Doughty Street Chambers. I draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.”

“Thank you for your answers so far, Lord Chancellor. I want to come back to the issue of the impact assessment and the 20%. Will it transparently show not just the assumptions, as you said in response to Dr Shastri-Hurst, but also the evidence and analysis underpinning that figure? In particular, will it list all the fa…”

“Will it show the sitting days that are saved as a result of restricting jury trials in sitting days?”

“Thank you. My last question builds on that and relates to the judiciary, because this is not just about magistrates court. On a slightly related issue, the High Court judiciary is not representative of the British population. What, if any, additional pressure can you bring to bear on the judiciary to ensure that it is …”

“That is fine. The last thing that I want to ask about is diversity—that is something I do not need to lecture you on. What specific mechanisms will there be to monitor disproportionate impacts on minority groups—conviction rates, sentence lengths, all disaggregated by race and other protected characteristics—so that we…”

“I want to ask about the proportion of resources. It may be that it is in the papers and I have not picked it up, but what proportion of the total criminal courts budget is used up by the 1.5% of cases that will lose jury trial in actual money terms? I know we have talked about numbers of cases, and some people have sai…”

“In terms of the 1% of cases that are being retained by the magistrates court, it is particularly important that you have a right of appeal that is effective. I want to ask about the legal aid position, and whether there would be any resource uplift from the Legal Aid Agency to fund the proposed appeals. As a lawyer, I …”

“Brilliant. I want to ask about the concordat, which you touched on earlier. Your letter said that we may need 139,000 sitting days by 2030 to meet demand. Is the barrier to sitting 139,000 days physical—that is, not enough courtrooms or judges—or financial? If you had the money, could you physically sit those days?”

“Will the impact assessment show how much of the backlog reduction will come from restricting jury trials as opposed to other measures such as increased sitting days?”

“My name is Tony Vaughan. I am the MP for Folkestone and Hythe. I am a barrister. I am also an associate tenant at Doughty Street Chambers.”

“Will the hon. Lady give way?”

“It is a privilege to serve under your chairship, Sir Edward. I thank the petitioner, Mr Sutcliff, and I thank the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore) for opening the debate. The issue of digital identification has certainly added to my postbag in recent months. Many of my constituents’ concerns are real,…”

“My specific example was about where an individual has a £5 packet of cigarettes that is obviously unlawful. The police have no power at all to demand right-to-work checks in that situation. Why do the Opposition oppose that principle?”

“I am afraid that that is not the scenario I was setting out. I was trying to be helpful by identifying the fact that, if a vape shop is selling £5 cigarettes, they are obviously unlawful, so there is reason to probe further, but the police do not have the ability to verify right to work. Obviously the state should, in …”

“If it is possible for the police to verify, in that moment, whether a person has a right to work, that will assist. The details are not there, but I am making the point that it is open to consultation. I am not here to defend the position of the Government; I am here to say that, in principle, the position has not been…”