Lib Dems To Force Showdown On Labour's Jury Trial Plans

7.14.02pm GMT Mon 17th Nov 2003

Commenting ahead of the return of the Criminal Justice Bill to the Commons tomorrow, Liberal Democrat Spokesman and candidate for Mayor of London Simon Hughes MP said: "The Bill returns to the Commons dramatically improved by its passage through the Lords. Once again the Lords have demonstrated just how important it is to have an effective revising chamber to kick the government's more outlandish ideas into touch."

"Liberal Democrats in the Commons and in the Lords will hold firm in support of the defeats already inflicted on the government."

"The biggest battle will be on jury trials. Parliament has prevented previous attempts by this Labour government to do away with jury trials, and tomorrow will see another united front against the latest proposals."

"We warmly welcome the government's support for Liberal Democrat proposals to extend the hate crime laws."

ENDS

Notes to editors

The following key issues are due to be debated tomorrow (Tuesday 18th November) when the Criminal Justice Bill returns to the Commons for consideration of the amendments made in the Lords.

The key issues are:

· Jury trial. The Bill seeks to dispense with juries in lengthy and complex cases, in cases where there is a perceived danger of jury tampering, and at the request of the defendant. All of the relevant clauses were removed by the Lords. The government will seek to re-insert the clauses in the Commons; Liberal Democrat MPs will oppose this move.

· Double jeopardy. The Bill abolishes the double jeopardy rule for a long list of serious offences. This list was reduced in size in the Lords. We want to see the list reduced further to cover only the most serious crimes: murder and genocide.

· DNA. The Bill seeks to extend the taking of fingerprints and DNA samples to suspects before they are charged with an offence. While we support this measure, we do not believe that samples should be retained in cases where a suspect is not subsequently charged, or in cases where the suspect is charged but later acquitted. These safeguards were won in the Lords but the government is expected to seek to overturn them in the Commons.

· Previous convictions and bad character. The Lords amended the Bill to insert the Law Commission's draft Bill on Criminal Evidence, which takes an exclusionary approach to the introduction of evidence of a person's bad character rather than the inclusionary approach proposed by the Government. Unless the Government takes significant steps to address our concerns we will seek to preserve the changes.

· Hearsay evidence. We successfully removed the provisions which will allow greater use of hearsay evidence in trials. We will argue for these changes to be retained, unless the provisions are substantially amended.

·Drug testing for under-18s. We support the government's decision to lower the age at which a suspect can be tested for drugs on arrest to 14. We oppose the power in the Bill for the Home Secretary to further lower this age by order.

· Magistrates' powers. The Bill extends the maximum prison sentence a magistrate can give from 6 months to 12 months. We won an amendment in the Lords to ensure that these changes, which will lead to an increase in the prison population, do not come into effect until the new 'custody plus' structure is in place, which will allow for offenders on short sentences to be released early and transferred to community programmes.

· Life sentences. We won an amendment to retain judicial discretion on the minimum length of life sentences for under-18s convicted of murder.

Richard Stokoe

Senior Liberal Democrat Press Officer for Simon Hughes MP Mayoral Campaign tel. 020 7227 1236, mobile 0772 08 38 35, fax 020 7227 1313 and pager 07659 114613.