Speeches by Paul.

“Another concern is legal representation. The Law Society warns that the Bill’s proposals would increase the number of defendants in magistrates courts who are ineligible for legal aid, even though they would currently qualify if their case were heard in the Crown court.”

“by that system.”

“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…”

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“Professor Rebecca Helm’s paper surveyed 1,015 adults and specifically isolated the views of those with jury service experience, those who had appeared in court charged with criminal offences and those from ethnic minority groups. Her results showed that people with jury service experience and people with defendant expe…”

“The Bar Council says the proposal introduces an extra layer of hearings and complication. JUSTICE says that the allocation of cases will lengthen the PTPH, and that the process of reallocation will lengthen it further. If Ministers have accounted for that, they should show their workings. If they have not, the headline…”

““You don’t fix the backlog with trials that are widely perceived as unfair.””

“Charlotte Schreurs and others argue from lived experience that delay is intolerable, and limited reform may be preferable to a justice system that does not function at all. I do not shy away from that view. Victims are absolutely right to be angry about delay, and they are right to say that the current position is into…”

“One of the biggest weaknesses in the Government’s case is the false choice built into the impact assessment. The impact assessment sets up two options: option 0, do nothing, and option 1, implement the criminal court reform measures in the Bill. That may be tidy as a Treasury Green Book template, but it is substantiall…”

“If we are increasing the sentence in the magistrates court, I would imagine the Minister will agree that, in some situations, we are increasing the complexity of the case. For example, a sexual assault case could be quite complicated and require, in order to look after the alleged victim and make sure their wellbeing i…”

“Colleagues will also recall the circulated letter from leaders in the violence against women and girls space, which makes the same point from another direction. It states that juries”

““are an important constitutional safeguard which help to ensure fairness, legitimacy and public confidence”,”

“That is a rather devastating critique, because it does not come from some romantic defence of tradition—attractive though that may be—but stems from a cold look at the Government’s own numbers and the inescapable conclusion that the gains appear modest and come with substantial legal risks.”

“JUSTICE and the Bar Council build on that point. JUSTICE notes that the Government’s model assumes cases within scope average 6.25 sitting days, while the Criminal Bar Association says that they are typically closer to three sitting days, meaning that the savings are likely overstated by around double. JUSTICE also say…”

““Restricting jury trials could decrease…confidence…further, particularly among minoritised groups.””

“JUSTICE says that the Bill will not have an impact on the backlog until 2028-29, and that prison demand is not predicted to decline until 2034-35. The Institute for Government says that the gains are uncertain and may backfire. The Bar Council, the Law Society and others say that alternative productivity measures could…”

“and warns:”

“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?”

“That is before we even get to the cost of written reasoned verdicts. In clause 3 cases, the Bill requires judges to set out written reasons for conviction or acquittal. I have seen that particular innovation praised on the grounds of transparency, but surely if the Government’s argument is about saving court time, they…”

“Polling cited in that letter suggests jury trials are one of the most trusted elements of the justice system. That takes us back to first principles. Jury trial is not just a fact-finding mechanism; it is also a democratic one. Geoffrey Rivlin KC put it more directly when he wrote that jury trial is the “gold standard”…”