The bill originally included measures to allow more trials of serious crimes to be heard entirely by judges, with jury trials having been suspended for the duration of the lockdown. This provision is not mirrored in England and Wales, where such trials are simply on hold, and prompted opposition from lawyers and other political parties.
Ministers said this might be needed to prevent a backlog of "the most serious cases" building up, and that this would only happen subject to further parliamentary scrutiny - but the Tories said trial by jury was "an important safeguard of human rights which we would be most reluctant to see removed".
The Scottish Criminal Bar Association hit out the "draconian" move, saying it would be "at best a knee-jerk reaction to an as-yet unquantified problem, instigated by panic, and at worst something far more sinister".