I went to Old Trafford the other day to watch Lancashire play Yorkshire in a pre season friendly (Yorkshire? friendly? – now there’s an oxymoron) and in particular to monitor Andrew Flintoff’s latest rehabilitation.

There I bumped into Max, a solicitor acquaintance of mine. Apart from the cricket, what was on his mind was the very real danger, as he sees it, of the UK adopting a system of plea bargaining very similar to the United States. His immediate cause for alarm is the recent issue of a consultation document by the Attorney General proposing that fraudsters be able to negotiate lower sentences if they admit their crimes. This was one of the key recommendations adopted by the Government in its response to the Fraud Review in March 2007. It argues that the option to negotiate an early plea could mean a reduction in long, expensive fraud trials, less strain to victims and witnesses, caused by delays and potential savings to prosecution and legal aid resources.

The consultation document proposes that prosecutors would be allowed to negotiate a plea agreement with the defence based on the defendant’s level of culpability and possible sentence in return for a guilty plea. The agreement would then be presented to the judge for approval, who could accept or reject it, defer his decision or simply give an indication on maximum sentence.

Lady Scotland was at great pains to point out that this will be plea negotiation, stating that this “is not about mirroring the United States’ system of ‘plea bargaining’. Clearly the US system would not work within our own legal system, but I believe the framework this group has produced could show us exactly how we might achieve early pleas and shorter, less expensive fraud trials”.

Max is not convinced and sees this as the not very thin end of a very large wedge. The arguments about long and expensive trials can also be applied to many criminal and to most terrorism trials. He intends to make his views known. If you wish to do so, or obtain a copy of the consultation document, then go to www.attorneygeneral.gov.uk or contact the Attorney General’s Office at 20 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0NF.

As to the really serious business of the day, unfortunately the Manchester weather had the last say. An untimely and torrential downpour put paid to any prospects of play, leaving us to go home early in what was by then mockingly glorious sunshine.