Speeches by Paul.

“Something I have said before that bears repeating is that the case against clause 3 and indeed the Bill is not that backlogs are tolerable; it is that the real causes of delay lie elsewhere and should be addressed directly. Many of Leveson’s recommendations, including prison transport, case management, listing, sitting…”

““Criminal trials without juries are a bad idea”,”

“The Opposition support amendment 51. If the Government insist on retaining clause 4 and schedule 1, then there is a compelling case for removing the power of the Secretary of State to add further offences to the list by regulation. I am particularly concerned by that unconstrained power. If the Government have currentl…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine. As the Committee has likely anticipated, I will argue that clause 3 should not stand part of the Bill. Clause 3 is the heart of the Government’s constitutional gamble. It creates a wholly new general rule for trial on indictment without a jury in a substant…”

“Perhaps I am more optimistic about these things.”

“Thank you for that, Ms Jardine. I reassure you that I will not be speaking for very much longer, but I will cover the last of what I consider to be the important points. Thank you for your guidance and patience. The Law Society warns that the Bill’s proposals will increase the number of defendants in magistrates courts…”

“Thank you for that guidance, Ms Jardine, but that seems to suggest that we are not allowed ever again in this Bill Committee to bring up the fact that the right to elect for jury trial and rights to legal aid are being removed. Surely we need to be able to talk about that as we go through the Bill.”

““there is still a lot of uncertainty attached to the potential benefits of the government’s proposed structural reforms. There is also a serious risk that they could backfire and cause further declines in both productivity and performance.””

“Ministers repeatedly say justice delayed is justice denied—of course it is. But that slogan does not identify the cause of delay, and it does not prove that clause 3 is the right cure. Indeed, Sir Brian Leveson said that the most significant cause is “chronic underfunding”, coupled with “increased complexity” and loss …”

“and:”

“If juries are removed from their space, more of those contested, context-dependent cases will be determined by a single professional judge, often on material that the digital evidence reform community says is already too weakly authenticated in lower courts. That is not a reassuring direction of travel. The threshold f…”

“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.”

“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 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…”

“At the very least, Ministers should have been required to present Parliament with a more realistic counterfactual, incorporating live reforms already in train, including uncapped sitting days and new sentencing powers, before setting out to make permanent constitutional change. If the choice is set up as do nothing ver…”

“Does my hon. Friend agree that Government Members and the Minister have spent a lot of time talking about victims being central to all of the changes, so why on earth would they not support the amendment if it is really about protecting victims from being cross-examined?”

“”

“Since the cap on judicial sitting days was lifted in October 2025, the backlog has reduced in key regions, including London, and fell materially in places such as Maidstone. The Bar Council and the Law Society both argue that there are further practical changes that can be implemented now without curtailing jury trials…”

“It is only fair to acknowledge that the Magistrates’ Association takes a different view. It supports the extension of magistrates’ sentencing ranges, and says this is”

“The Government’s figures tell us that the package reduces Crown court sitting days by 27,000 and increases magistrates court sitting days by 8,500, but where exactly in that modelling is the court time for the new allocation architecture itself? Clause 3 requires judges to assess likely sentence, hear representations, …”