Speeches by Mullan.

“As the Minister points out, this clause interacts with the issue of transparency in the justice system. I recognise that the Minister thinks it attempts to strike a balance by clarifying the categories of people who may not be excluded, such as representatives of news organisations, witness supporters and approved rese…”

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“I want to draw an instructive analogy. As I have said, the criminal courts operate on a presumption of innocence, and that goes wrong. We know that the criminal justice system fails people. Perpetrators are acquitted, and people who end up being convicted later of some of the most serious crimes and worst offences can …”

“In the previous session, the Minister mentioned that she thought, for example, that the test of whether to allocate a trial would be subject to legal interpretation. That was an admission that the Minister made—which is probably self-evident.”

““the ability to appeal a decision to order a judge-alone trial as an important procedural safeguard that ensures that judge-alone trials are only ordered in appropriate circumstances and in line with statutory criteria. A significant problem with not permitting appeals on decisions to order judge-alone trials is that i…”

“In their submission to the independent review of criminal courts itself, they identified that”

““opposite to the approach taken in other jurisdictions, where such a decision can be appealed.””

“I beg to move amendment 52, in clause 5, page 14, line 36, leave out subsection (5) and insert— “(5) The judgment must be given at the time of conviction, except where an adjournment is necessary for preparing— (a) pre-sentence reports, (b) psychiatric or medical reports, (c) victim personal statements, or (d) further …”

“The hon. Member for Gloucester pointed to what the Bar Council said, but let us be fair and talk about what it said in its completeness. It may well have said that the people currently practising dropped out, but the Minister quite directly asked how it was going to train these people up and get back to that point, and…”

“Again, I draw the Committee’s attention to the written evidence submitted by Dr Natalie Hodgson and Dr Matt Thomason, who say this approach is”

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“As we are touching on these issues, those of us on the Opposition Benches are happy to say that we have to work harder on judicial accountability and decision making, and we are not afraid to say that we think it is better that juries do these things, because judges err. There is an irony really, because at the heart o…”

“Increase in maximum custodial sentence in magistrates’ court”

“Clause 6”

“Clause 5 ordered to stand part of the Bill.”

“Question put, That the clause stand part of the Bill.”

“I rise to speak in support of amendments 58 and 52; I will start with amendment 58. We find ourselves at a significant juncture in the history of our legal system, and the Government have presented us with a Bill framed primarily as a pragmatic response to the current record-breaking backlog of nearly 80,000 cases in o…”

“We are leaning heavily on the points made by the Criminal Bar Association. The Government seem quite rightly to be extremely concerned about the training of future barristers, but the Criminal Bar Association has made the point that that training often takes place in what the Government are describing as less serious c…”

“Will the hon. Member give way?”

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