Speeches by Sackman.

“People must be able to access legal aid, regardless of where in the country they live, and this Government have made substantial new investments. On the civil side, in housing and immigration, we have announced uplifts worth £20 million; in respect of criminal law, criminal legal aid solicitors will receive an addition…”

“My hon. Friend is right that we are seeing an increase in the number of victims pulling out of the process because they no longer have confidence in it because it is taking so long. We have funded an additional 4,000 sitting days this year and have asked Sir Brian Leveson to recommend once-in-a-generation reform precis…”

“I am very sorry to hear about the case of the hon. Member’s constituent. We need to put this into some context. As of March 2024, over 8 million lasting powers of attorney were registered in England and Wales. They are a really useful instrument. Although concerns about misuse do exist, the sort of abuse that the hon. …”

“The killings of Jack and Paul were horrendous crimes and I would like to pay tribute to my hon. Friend and to her constituent, Claire, for their tireless campaigning on these issues. I am sure that she would agree that the guiding principle for any reform must be children’s welfare. That is why we have requested a revi…”

“I pay tribute to the legal aid providers across the country who have kept going through this difficult time and who do vital work in the sector. As part of the package of contingency business measures, we have delegated more decision making to providers and we have committed to backdating criminal legal aid application…”

“As the House will be aware, the Legal Aid Agency suffered a criminal cyber-attack across its systems. It has worked tirelessly to ensure that those who rely on legal aid have not seen that legal aid stop and that providers are not left out of pocket. In short, it has kept the show on the road with a series of emergency…”

“My hon. Friend raises an important point. The impact of the Crown courts backlog is being felt by domestic abuse victims and small businesses, so we have a real job to do to restore confidence in our criminal justice system. That is why we gripped the crisis by putting in place an extra 110,000 Crown court sitting days…”

“Can I put this in a little bit of context? I speak with my MP hat on here as much as my ministerial hat on. My predecessor in this office—both in my ministerial office and my predecessor as MP for Finchley and Golders Green—was Mike Freer. Mike and I should have had the chance to face each other at the ballot box, but …”

“Obviously, the utilisation of those sorts of orders are ultimately a matter of judicial discretion; it is important, of course, that we respect the independence of the judiciary. One of the things that has become apparent through the work of this Conference is trying to understand whether there is consistency of practi…”

“My name is Sarah Sackman. I am the Member of Parliament for Finchley and Golders Green, and I am the Minister for Courts and Legal Services in the Ministry of Justice.”

“That sounds reasonable and sensible. I suspect that the practice of the CPS is to apply for expedition, but guidance on that would certainly not hurt.”

“I think that is a very fair point. Of course, there would also have to be no discrimination between different candidates because, once you are in an election, the fact that you are the incumbent falls away. I absolutely take that point.”

“That is very true.”

“To add briefly to what Lucy said, I think that in practice our courts, in completely different circumstances, are well used to responding rapidly when that is germane to the matter at hand, such as seeking an urgent injunction out of court hours. You referred to the response to the Southport riots. I think that in thos…”

“We hear concerns from lots of different angles about threats to MPs coming from members of the public, with those who participate or seek to be candidates themselves being the source of the abuse and intimidation. We have to make sure that our police, the CPS and judges applying the law are equipped with the right suit…”

“I would not put in question for one minute the court’s understanding of both criminal and election law. While these cases are unusual, in my experience, when election offences, or ordinary criminal offences that pertain to MPs and candidates, come before the courts, they tend to be, under criminal practice directions, …”

“All I would add, and I suspect colleagues will agree with me, and maybe Lucy too, given that we are both new MPs, is that before I got into this place, and even since I have been elected, people would come up to me—friends, families and complete strangers sometimes—and they would say, “Gosh, you must be mad to put your…”

“If I may just chime in on this discussion about centralisation, the attractions of centralisation are the ones that you have outlined. You build expertise, and you have a single focal point that MPs around the country can call into. These are unusual cases. It is about good resource management. I want to pick up on one…”

“Hear, hear!”

“Exactly. That is precisely the attraction. We need to be aware of the temptation of simply expanding and creating highly specific offences, but in the sentencing space, recognising the independence of the Sentencing Council, that approach and direction of travel is something that we should explore.”