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Fraud (Trials without a Jury) Bill

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and such a Bill would at least have some intellectual logic. Of course, the difficulty for the Government—indeed, this is what worries me so much—is that the current terrorist trials, which are lasting many months, would then no longer be suitable material for juries. I feel very strongly that such trials must take place in front of juries. I am never quite sure what the Government really think about such matters, because of the Prime Minister’s siren songs about his dislike of our ““archaic”” criminal justice system, which is always in need of modernisation. I do of course accept that curbing the right to trial by jury in such cases would, at present, be a step too far for the Government in terms of public opinion. That is why they have picked on fraud trials as the first area in which to make their inroads.