Clause 2
Fraud (Trials without a Jury) Bill
12:00 pm
Simon Hughes (Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs & Shadow Attorney General, Constitutional Affairs; North Southwark and Bermondsey, Liberal Democrat)
I have a linked question, and a separate question that is germane to new clause 2. I take up the question asked by the hon. Member for Beaconsfield. Have the Government had consultations with the High Court bench on whether it is ready and preparing for the eventuality of Parliament agreeing to this measure? More particularly, do the Government envisage certain types of High Court judges doing the work rather than judges taken at random from the court? For example, will commercial judges be asked to do the work? Some reports suggest that there will be a list of designated High Court judges who will do this sort of work.
That gives rise to a matter that has caused some anxiety in previous debates and elsewhere: that there will be judges who are known to be the judges of fact and law in these cases. By definition, because they will be the only ones in the country who have that responsibility, they might be more exposed to threats from people who cannot knobble juries but who will be able to spot judges who might try their case.
My second question relates to clause 2(2), which amends section 48 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, and refers to the wording not just in respect of fraud trials but of trials that would be heard by a single judge where there has been jury tampering or where the jury has been discharged for that reason.
When we debated the Criminal Justice Bill in 2003, it was accepted by Parliament, including the House of Commons, that the one exception to a jury trial in serious cases should be in the event of the corruption of a jury, where there was a safety issue, or when there was a suspicion that jury tampering meant that there could not be a fair verdict on fact. My question to the Solicitor-General is, has that part of the Act been implemented?
The Solicitor-Generalindicated assent.