---

Counter-Terrorism Bill (Programme) (No. 2)

The point that I was making was that if there is a plea of guilty to an offence and there is a dispute about the factual basis of the plea—the same principle as someone pleading to an offence, but saying that there is no terrorist connection when the prosecution says that there is—it has historically been resolved by the judge alone. If the hon. Gentleman wants to make a case for departing from that principle in terrorist cases, he must view it in the overall context of how our legal system has resolved that issue generally and whether it would be justified to make an exception in the case of terrorism. I agree that it is an important issue, but I remain unpersuaded.