Fraud (Trials without a Jury) Bill

I do not want to embark on an amendment that will not make the cut, but it is obviously desirable that the judge who decides that a trial should be judge only should be the one to hear it. I can tell my hon. and learned Friend that a great deal of trouble would be caused if judges, and especially High Court judges, were to decide that a trial should be judge only and then left it to be heard by a Crown court judge who was not involved in the decision. Moreover, if the case changes and a defendant decides to plead guilty after previously pleading not guilty—and if that plea had been part of the original judge’s contemplation when making the judge-only ruling—another judge will have a great deal of difficulty in unravelling the original judge’s thinking. If the House of Lords can find a form of words that accommodates my hon. and learned Friend’s natural wish not to trammel the discretion of the Lord Chief Justice, but which nonetheless provides for the exceptional circumstances that he has described, will he look on it with a certain amount of kindness, if not approbation?