Speeches by Mullan.

“Clause 4”

“Dr Hodgson and Dr Thomason go on to say:”

“Amendment proposed: 48, in clause 4, page 13, line 11, at end insert—”

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“I rise to speak in support of Opposition amendment 46, which is in my name, as we debate elements of the Government’s proposals to remove jury trials and make use of the new Crown court bench division in relation to potentially complex and lengthy trials. To make sense of this debate, we must consider how the measures …”

“To make it really clear, what is the minimum length that the Minister thinks would constitute a lengthy case?”

“The hon. Lady is absolutely right. The Minister is always keen to draw lessons from other jurisdictions, and as I said we have a clear lesson from another jurisdiction that is specific. In our system, my understanding is that the practice directions for complex cases are that the prosecution and defence should do every…”

“I beg to move amendment 49, in clause 4, page 13, line 30, leave out “trial beginning on or” and insert “cases whose first hearing in the magistrates’ court takes place”. This amendment prevents the provisions in section 4 coming into effect retrospectively. We previously discussed the issue of retrospectivity in claus…”

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“I rise to speak in opposition to clause 4 and in support of amendment 51 in my name. I remind the Committee that this is not a new debate. As the Minister touched on, it is an idea that has been postponed, debated and largely rejected several times over the last few decades. Each time, the conclusion has been that the …”

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“I am in danger of not knowing my figures, but I think the impact assessment suggests that 25% of cases in the list of offences will be included, so I am not sure whether it is reasonable to describe that as a small proportion—I do not know whether the Minister said “proportion” or “number”. How many cases does she thin…”

“rose—”

“The same is true in other areas. Private prosecutions are used in intellectual property crime and shoplifting, where cases are not prioritised. In one example, public enforcement spent over £2 million and brought just a handful of charges, while private prosecutions secured over 100 convictions at a lower cost. If we m…”

“We must ensure that the consultation is meaningful, and it must include those who rely on private prosecutions. Crucially, the House will expect to see how the Government respond to the evidence they gather. If this becomes just a paper exercise and the Government continue with what they always intended to do, it will …”

“Where we have complete agreement—this was Tracey’s original campaign, supported by Victims For Justice—is on the idea of statutory notification, which is a welcome change. I will continue to work with any and all victims, even when they do not universally agree. People working in the justice arena are used to recognisi…”

“Similarly, we must understand what the “interests of justice” means in reality. In what sorts of scenario does the Minister expect people to be able to apply successfully? She helpfully pointed out that there is clearly a difference in the obligations towards an ordinary member of the public, or even an MP making use o…”

“Let me turn to controlling cost awards in private prosecutions. We will not be opposing Government amendment (a), which introduces a requirement for consultation and an impact assessment before those powers are exercised. That welcome step reflects concerns that have been raised consistently throughout the passage of t…”

“There will be some back and forth about who wants what elements of this scheme and in what ways, but I think the Minister was wrong to say that our focus was on it being for everybody. I have been clear from the start that our focus was also on extending the provision for victims and their families, and not for everybo…”

“I agree with both of them that this measure is welcome, but we should not overstate the extent to which we are delivering exactly what victims and their families asked for. As has been said, these steps forward are welcome, but in some ways they are not exactly what families asked for. Tracey’s key point throughout has…”