Spoke yesterday in the debate on the second reading of the Fraud (Trials without a Jury) Bill.
This nasty little measure is aimed at removing the right to trial by jury in some fraud cases. Jury trial has been a feature of our legal system for eight hundred years. It is one of the cornerstones of our liberty and we tamper with it at our peril.
There were some powerful speeches on our side, most notably from Douglas Hogg and Richard Shepherd, who were both ferocious in their attack upon the Bill.
The Government benches were (astonishingly, given the constitutional importance of the issue under discussion) almost empty throughout the debate, although Bob Marshall-Andrews, the Labour MP for Medway and an eminent QC, demolished the Bill with an intellectually impeccable argument.
Needless to say, the Government won the vote on a three-line whip, but I have no doubt that we have not heard the last of the Bill. The Lords will hate it and the Government will probably, to its shame, have to rely on the Parliament Act to get it passed.
The most depressing moment of the debate came when Stephen Hesford, Labour MP for Wirral West, described the assault on liberty proposed by the Bill as simply a “case management” issue.
May God help us all.
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