Blunkett agrees jury trial deal

Plans for limiting jury trial remain controversial

The controversial criminal justice bill has been passed by Parliament after a deal was reached to end the deadlock.

Plans to restrict trial by jury for serious fraud cases remain in the Bill.

But ministers agreed to a further vote on the issue before invoking the proposal.

The Home Office described the deal, which comes as peers ended opposition to NHS reforms, as a "score draw".

The Bill later received Royal Assent and Parliament was prorogued, ending the session.

Double Jeopardy

Home Secretary David Blunkett said: "Despite the acrimony we experienced on Tuesday and yesterday evening, we have a modernised criminal justice system fit for the 21st century."

The government also agreed to drop a provision which would have allowed defendants at Crown Court to choose trial before a judge sitting without a jury.

Peers had already accepted the government's proposal that a judge could sit alone where there were fears of jury interference or "nobbling".

Parliament will resume next week with the Queen's speech on 26 November marking the official State Opening.

The House of Lords had raised a series of concerns about the Criminal Justice Bill.

That included criticism of proposals to end the "double-jeopardy" rule, when someone found not guilty of a particular crime cannot be tried again for it.

But the provision has now been accepted and will apply where significant new evidence emerges after a first trial.

Home Secretary David Blunkett and his Conservative opposite number, David Davis, reached the deal that ensured the Bill could be passed.

Climbdown or common sense?

Tory home affairs spokesman Dominic Grieve said: "This is a major government climbdown.

"The government has argued relentlessly that the right to jury trial had to be curbed.

"This says that the clause will stay on the bill but it can never be implemented unless an affirmative resolution by both houses of Parliament is passed.

"The Lords will never agree to that."

But Commons leader Peter Hain said a "common sense arrangement" had been reached.

Mr Hain has described the deal as 'common sense'

"This shows we as a government are prepared not to blink first but to say to an unelected, unrepresentative House of Lords the will of the Commons, of democratically elected MPs, has to triumph and it has been very regrettable that the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have been unwilling to allow that principle to be asserted," he told BBC Radio 4's PM programme.

Apart from very rare exceptions a Bill has to be approved by both Houses of Parliament before it can gain Royal Assent and be placed on the statute book.

Earlier it emerged that peers would no longer stand in the way of legislation that heralds the introduction of foundation hospitals.

'Principle'

Then, Lords shadow health spokesman Earl Howe said that, much as he did not like the government's plans for foundation hospitals, peers had to recognise the validity and strength of the Commons.

He said: "An issue of this kind is essentially one of policy rather than constitutional principle.

"It is not for us to continue to resist the will of the elected House."

Lib Dem health spokesman in the Upper House, Lord Clement-Jones, accused the government of "railroading" the foundation hospitals policy through Parliament.

"The government's foundation trust proposals are still fundamentally flawed," he said in a statement.

The controversial plans give limited operational and financial freedom to some hospital trusts in England.

Small majority

Traditionally the House of Lords - whose role is seen as to reform and improve Commons measures - either gives way at the last minute or a compromise deal is reached.

The prime minister will be worried that Labour backbenchers have now developed the habit of rebelling The BBC's Nick Assinder Analysis: Blair's close shave

The foundation hospital plans were introduced as part of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill.

On Wednesday MPs voted to pass the Bill by just 17 votes - the smallest majority since Tony Blair became prime minister.

Peers then voted to scrap a key clause, returning the plans to the Commons for a new vote.

This saw MPs sitting until 0215 GMT, when they voted by 290 to 249 to reinstate the clause, raising the government majority to 41.

The Lords had already thrown out the Bill once this month, by rejecting the clause.