Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill

I shall certainly not take up very much time. I simply wish to echo the point made by Labour Members that there are public expectations of the Bill. I think that those expectations, which date back 10 years, to the time when the Law Commission first reported on the issue, will be disappointed by the Bill in its existing form. I have been campaigning on the issue for 20 years, and when I was in practice, I encountered far too many widows and children who were victims of accidents—not just the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster and the King’s Cross fire, but what one might call ordinary accidents, in which ordinary people were killed in ordinary circumstances. Those accidents were not noteworthy but, none the less, they were the result of gross negligence by the companies responsible for them. There is a need for justice, and for someone to answer for what happened, but the Bill in its present form does not provide. People want to be sure that things will never happen again in the same way, and we can ensure that that is the case only by making sure that the individuals responsible are held to account. We have heard a number of different formulations today—I do not claim that new clause 1 offers the best formulation—and we have heard about other opportunities, including those offered by section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act. Corporate manslaughter could become an offence under the relevant statutory provisions for the purposes of section 37, or that section could be extended to include imprisonment and disqualification. I am grateful for the assurance from my hon. Friend the Minister that he will continue to look at the issue, as it is essential that we find a way of bringing those individuals responsible to book. In begging to ask leave to withdraw the motion, I hope that the other place will revisit the issue and take note of our discussions. Motion and clause, by leave, withdrawn.