---

Fraud (Trials without a Jury) Bill

The hon. Gentleman is making some very reasonable points about case management—not for nothing does ““Private Eye”” call the prosecutor ““the serious farce office””—but he is wrong to imply that the Government have picked this Bill out of a hat. As has been said before, it is based on the Roskill recommendations, which are 20 years old. I hope that it will be part of a package of measures—including a serious attempt to address plea-bargaining—that the Government will roll out in the next few months. I should be interested to hear the hon. Gentleman’s arguments on plea-bargaining. At the moment, there is very little incentive for serious fraudsters or insider dealers to cop a plea bargain, because they think that they will be able to bamboozle the jury and get off. If the Bill gives some incentive for such people to cop a plea bargain, because of the prospect of appearing before an expert judge, all the better for the more serious and effective prosecution of fraud and insider dealing.