Coroners and Justice Bill

My Lords, this is not a subject to which I gave much thought before this afternoon. I was not clear what my view ought to be about it and I thought that I would attend your Lordships’ House to listen to the debate. It happens that this is one of the most remarkable occasions that I have ever experienced in this House in almost 20 years. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd, has made a powerful case, and it has been backed-up by an amazing range of different experience and recollections of different circumstances. If there is a political angle to this, it is pretty flimsy because the role of the jury that is proposed here would guarantee popular consent. Those on the Front Benches may produce ideas that have not occurred to me but, on the basis of the debate that I have heard, I am very much minded to support the amendment.