Coroners and Justice Bill

My Lords, we move swiftly to live links, another topic that we have addressed in this House quite recently. I think I have made known to your Lordships the position of principle that we take on it, which is that live links have a useful function, but that a defendant should be able to consent to the use of a live link, not have it thrust upon him. It is interesting to see how this issue has a creeping connotation. We start by having live links that are perhaps helpful to a defendant in particular circumstances, and he will consent to it, but now we come to having live links used as a compulsory mode of communication in court proceedings. It is that principle that I oppose, and for that reason, I beg to move.