Fraud (Trials without a Jury) Bill

I shall deal first with the detail of the new clauses before considering the more general arguments made by Opposition Members. New clauses 4 and 5 would both alter the conditions in subsection 43(5) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. New clause 5, on which I understand that the hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey (Simon Hughes) wants to divide the House, would require the legislation to be changed so that it no longer referred to the effect of the length and complexity of the trial in terms of the burden imposed on the jury and the interests of justice, but to the effect on the safety of the verdict. To some extent, we have dealt with those arguments because, as I observed in Committee, the Government do not accept that there will be any effect on the safety of the verdict. We think that judges are able to reach verdicts and that they are able to reach verdicts that are safe. Indeed, every day in this country, district judges do that in magistrates courts and nobody complains about that.