Part of Criminal Justice Bill – in a Public Bill Committee am 11:15 am ar 27 Chwefror 2003.
Dominic Grieve
Shadow Minister (Home Affairs)
11:15,
27 Chwefror 2003
I said wrongly that I was referring to jury trial, whereas in fact I was referring to the retrial provisions not being followed for serious offences. With a single legislature no longer dealing with both areas, the gap might widen over time, in terms of sentencing structures. I think that there is therefore a danger that someone might one day say, ''What is being applied in Scotland is sufficiently dissimilar from England to make this provision difficult to implement.''
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.