Despite twice being thrown-out by the House of Lords in the last parliamentary session, and concerns that it is being driven by financial rather than ideological reasons, the government is determined to see this bill become law - even if that means using the Parliament Act.Under a special category of "either-way" cases - such as theft - the bill would enable magistrates to choose whether to refer the case to a crown court or to try the defendant themselves. However the magistrate would have to notify the defendant for the reasons for their decision and the defendant would have a right to appeal.The government estimates that for 1998 in the region of 400,000 either-way cases were dealt with by the magistrates' court, and 1999 the number of cases where defendants elected trial by jury rose by 2.6 per cent to almost 19,000. In the same period magistrates directed around 40,000 cases to crown court. The government calculates that there will be up to 14,000 less crown court trials once the bill is enacted - resulting in a saving of £128m.

Indeed the majority of those who elect jury trial plead guilty once they reach Crown Court but only after great "inconvenience and worry to victims and witnesses, and at considerable cost".

However, a deficit of judges from ethnic minorities has caused concern for civil liberty campaigners who claim that many black defendants opt for a trial by jury because they believe it offers them a greater chance of justice. The statistics do indeed bear this point out as significantly more black defendants are acquitted by juries than magistrates.

The bill was included in the Queen's Speech despite the fact that Lord Auld had yet to report back on his review into the criminal justice system after the government decided it would not be sensible to postpone any changes to the system until after the next general election. Although it was widely expected that Lord Auld would recommend that certain cases be tried by a new system of intermediate criminal courts comprising of a judge and two magistrates.