§ 'The presumption in criminal law that the offences of murder and manslaughter shall occur only if the party wounded or hurt dies of the wound or hurt within a year and a day shall be abolished.'.—[Mr. Milburn.]
§ Brought up, and read the First time.
§ Mr. Alan Milburn (Darlington)I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
The clause has a straightforward purpose—to bring the law on murder into the 20th century. At present, the offence is governed by Judge Cook's antiquated 16th-century definition:
When a man of sound memory unlawfully killeth any reasonable creature so as the party wounded dies of the wound or hurt within a year and a day after the same".That outdated definition has cost a family in my constituency the justice to which they were entitled following the tragic death of their son, Michael Gibson.Michael suffered an unprovoked assault in Darlington town centre in April 1992, a month before his 21st 87 birthday. As he walked along Darlington's High Row, he was savagely attacked by a passing stranger. He was hit only once, but it was enough. He remained comatose for the next 16 months, kept alive thanks only to the care and dedication of staff at Darlington memorial hospital.
Within a matter of hours, Michael's assailant, David Clark, had been arrested by local police. He was well known to them, having served recent sentences for burglary and actual bodily harm. Clark readily confessed that, after consuming 12 pints of lager, he had gone out looking for trouble that Friday evening. He found it in the shape of Michael Gibson.
But David Clark is a very lucky man. He is free today to roam the streets once again, thanks to an ancient law that takes no account of advances in medical technology.
The absurdities of the law as it stands mean quite simply that Michael Gibson took too long to die. According to a letter that I have received from Barbara Mills, the Director of Public Prosecutions:
in the event of Michael having died within a year and a day of the assault upon him, Mr. Clark would have been charged with an offence of manslaughter.The Crown Prosecution Service even waited for 366 days before bringing Clark to court, but once the year and a day had passed, it was left with no alternative but to bring a charge of grievous bodily harm against David Clark. He received a two-year sentence. He was released from prison just nine weeks after Michael Gibson finally died, in August 1993.It is little wonder that Michael's mother, Pat Gibson, has earned the support of people throughout the north-east of England for her campaign to scrap this antiquated rule. She has to live with the knowledge that, if her son had been attacked just 150 miles further north—in Scotland—her son's killer would face life imprisonment, because the rule simply does not apply there. Nor does it apply in any other European country apart from Cyprus. She said of her son's killer:
I thought the law and justice would take care of him. But the law has simply aided and abetted him in getting away with it.Pat Gibson is right. The law protected the guilty, because it had been outstripped by medical science. Today, patients can be kept alive for many years, thanks to all the advances in life-saving and life-enhancing medical technology. There are now some 1,200 patients in England alone who are believed to be in a persistent vegetative state. No doubt many will be the victims of road traffic accidents, but a few will be the victims of assault.I am aware of at least three other cases in which the 366-day rule has served to deny justice to the victims of crime and to their families. As the Minister conceded in Committee, the number of crime victims caught in this legal time warp is likely to increase as the frontiers of medicine are constantly pushed back.
He has, of course, expressed sympathy for the Gibson family, and that is very welcome. He even said in Committee that the 366-day rule was anachronistic. That is very welcome. What is less welcome is the fact that, for almost a year, he has ducked and dodged about making a final decision about the future of this outdated and unjust rule.
88 7.45 pm
I first wrote to the Home Secretary on 19 May last year, calling for a review of the 366-day rule. The Minister cannot claim this evening that he has not had enough time to assess the implications of change. He has had 11 months to conduct a review. Only now is he prepared to refer the issue to the Law Commission, but he still cannot say what sort of timetable or remit the Law Commission will have, or when it will report its conclusions to the House. That is simply not good enough.
The Minister said in Committee that the first clause that I tabled would have given rise to a new anachronism, because it did not cover manslaughter as well as murder. There can be no such excuses with new clause 15. It covers both, and has taken on board his concerns. It calls for the immediate abolition of a rule that is bringing the law into disrepute by failing properly to punish those who commit the most serious of offences on our statute book—murder.
Over recent months, we have all heard much from Ministers about getting tough on crime. The Minister himself has spoken eloquently about the need to return to common-sense principles in matters of crime and punishment. I can remind him that, just a month ago, he told the House:
Our constituents are sick and tired of lengthy legal games letting the guilty go free on technicalities."—(Official Report, 2 March 1994; Vol. 238, c. 1054.]Tonight, Ministers have an opportunity to put those convictions into practice. Ministers can demonstrate that the commitment to justice and the right of victims come before retaining an ancient rule that has simply outlived its usefulness.I urge all hon. Members this evening to support new clause 15.
§ Mr. Alex Carlile (Montgomery)The rule to which the hon. Member for Darlington (Mr. Milburn) has referred is a rule which, when it was created, no doubt met the perception at that time of common sense. If somebody had recovered more than a year and a day after the trauma leading to their unconsciousness, it would have been regarded as a miracle of sanctifiable proportions.
But understandings have changed, and medical science, as the hon. Gentleman said, has moved on a good deal. One could not say that it was an everyday occurrence for somebody to recover more than a year and a day after becoming unconscious, but it is certainly relatively common for people to recover a measure of consciousness much more than a year after a traumatic incident.
During my years in legal practice, I have been involved as a barrister in a good many personal injury cases. I recall a number of cases in which children, particularly, who had the physical strength to remain alive while unconscious for a considerable time, have made—albeit part, but good part —recoveries from what appeared to be a persistent vegetative state. So science is very different from the understanding at the time that the rule was created.
That nobody can be prosecuted in 1994 for murder or manslaughter after a year and a day plainly makes an ass of the law. As every year passes, the position will seem ever more asinine, unless the Minister is prepared to concede that the time has now come for a change.
It is hardly a revolutionary change. I am given to understand that the law of Scotland does not involve a rule of this kind, and that it never has. I do not believe that life, at least in modern times, is held more cheaply in Scotland than it is in England and Wales. It is my view that what 89 applies in Scotland in this regard should apply in England. There is a need for some uniformity in the law of murder and manslaughter within the countries of the United Kingdom. Indeed, I hope that we may see some harmonisation of these criminal laws throughout the European Union in due course.
Many issues affecting the law of murder and mánslaughter have been and are being considered by the Law Commission. I believe that fundamental changes should take place which go somewhat beyond this proposal. It should not await that wider consideration before being introduced. Many practising lawyers, such as myself, who have appeared in a great number of homicide cases, believe that the distinction between murder and manslaughter is now no longer sensible, and that the mandatory life sentence is no longer a realistic way of dealing with the vast range of facts that may arise in a homicide case. I accept that those issues may require wider and longer debate and possibly specific legislation, but this is an issue which the Government have had more than enough time to consider. The time for change has now arrived.
I applaud the proposal made by the hon. Member for Darlington and hope that we shall at last hear a positive response from the Minister.
§ Mr. MacleanOf course I believe that people who kill should not escape the full force of the law because of a technicality. That has been my view, is my view and always will be my view.
I said in Committee that I was personally inclined to the view that abolition would turn out to be the sensible reform of the year-and-a-day rule in due course, and that also is still my view. I am not known as a person much given to sympathy for those who commit crime and I worry that the rule has outlived its usefulness, but I believe that simple abolition would create a vacuum in the way in which we treat those who may be liable to further prosecution having already been convicted of a lesser offence, if the victim goes on to die, or who may not have been prosecuted in the first place. We are, after all, talking about the most serious charge known to law in the same breath as we contemplate a potentially unlimited liability to prosecution in the future.
If the matter were really as straightforward as the hon. Member for Darlington (Mr. Milburn) suggests, why did the Criminal Law Revision Committee and the House of Lords Select Committee on murder and life imprisonment not leap instantly to the conclusion that the rule should be abolished? Instead, they recommended its retention.
As I said in Committee, the Law Commission had separately arrived at a decision to review the rule—not, I must point out to the hon. and learned Member for Montgomery (Mr. Carlile), as part of a long and wide-ranging review of all aspects of crime and punishment or murder, but as a separate, shorter, sharper review. Those of us who are familiar with the Law Commission's way of working will know that consultation is its key component, and that it would be foolish and wrong to expect the commission to forgo that element simply to beat a parliamentary deadline. In any event, it is not for me, the Government or the House to try to set timetables for the Law Commission.
I do not expect that the commission will produce its report in time for the Government to amend the Bill; still less would I presume to guarantee that the commission will come up with the same proposal as Opposition Members, 90 or follow my own views on the matter. I can say, however, that the commission has been made well aware of the strength of feeling in the House and of the Government's concern.
That is why I believe that the Law Commission will take forward this difficult but discreet and limited task with urgency. I believe that the House should therefore reject this premature new clause with every confidence that the matter will be quickly and thoroughly dealt with by those who are expert in it.
§ Mr. MichaelI pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Darlington (Mr. Milburn) for the way in which he has pursued the issue for a considerable time. I made the case on behalf of the Opposition in Committee, and I do not need to add to the arguments which stand in the record of the sittings of the Standing Committee of 3 March.
I remind the Minister of his words in response to our debate in Committee:
The year and a day rule has outlived its usefulness, but we must tie up the loose ends.With reference to those loose ends, he asked:What happens if the rule is abolished for murder but the charge is later reduced for manslaughter?"—[0fficial Report, Standing Committee B. 3 March 1994; c. 1165]We have put that right, because new clause 15 deals with manslaughter as well as murder.The Minister does not wait for or listen to advice unless it suits him. There has been dangerously speedy decision-making on a range of issues—videos and stop-and-search are only two cases in point. The Minister is again refusing to fulfil a promise made to my hon. Friend the Member for Darlington by the Prime Minister. At this point, the House should vote on the issue and resolve it once and for all.
§ Question put, That the clause be read a Second time:—
§ The House divided: Ayes 260, Noes 277.
94| Division No. 194] | [7.53 pm |
| AYES | |
| Abbott, Ms Diane | Callaghan, Jim |
| Adams, Mrs Irene | Campbell, Mrs Anne (C'bridge) |
| Ainger, Nick | Campbell, Menzies (Fife NE) |
| Ainsworth, Robert (Cov'tty NE) | Campbell, Ronnie (Blyth V) |
| Allen, Graham | Campbell-Savours, D. N. |
| Alton, David | Cann, Jamie |
| Anderson, Donald (Swansea E) | Carlile, Alexander (Montgomry) |
| Anderson, Ms Janet (Ros'dale) | Chisholm, Malcolm |
| Armstrong, Hilary | Clapham, Michael |
| Ashton, Joe | Clark, Dr David (South Shields) |
| Austin-Walker, John | Clarke, Eric (Midlothian) |
| Barnes, Harry | Clarke, Tom (Monklands W) |
| Barron, Kevin | Clelland, David |
| Battle, John | Clwyd, Mrs Ann |
| Bayley, Hugh | Coffey, Ann |
| Beckett, Rt Hon Margaret | Connarty, Michael |
| Beggs, Roy | Cook, Frank (Stockton N) |
| Beith, Rt Hon A. J. | Cook, Robin (Livingston) |
| Bell, Stuart | Corbett, Robin |
| Benn, Rt Hon Tony | Corbyn, Jeremy |
| Bennett, Andrew F. | Corston, Ms Jean |
| Benton, Joe | Cousins, Jim |
| Berry, Roger | Cummings, John |
| Betts, Clive | Cunningham, Jim (Covy SE) |
| Blair, Tony | Dafis, Cynog |
| Boateng, Paul | Dalyell, Tam |
| Boyes, Roland | Darling, Alistair |
| Bradley, Keith | Davidson, Ian |
| Bray, Dr Jeremy | Davies, Bryan (Oldham C'tral) |
| Brown, Gordon (Dunfermline E) | Davies, Rt Hon Denzil (Llanelli) |
| Brown, N. (N'c'tle upon Tyne E) | Davies, Ron (Caerphilly) |
| Burden, Richard | Denham, John |
| Caborn, Richard | Dewar, Donald |
| Dixon, Don | Loyden, Eddie |
| Dobson, Frank | Lynne, Ms Liz |
| Donohoe, Brian H. | McAllion, John |
| Dowd, Jim | McAvoy, Thomas |
| Dunnachie, Jimmy | McCartney, Ian |
| Eagle, Ms Angela | Macdonald, Calum |
| Enright, Derek | McFall, John |
| Etherington, Bill | McGrady, Eddie |
| Evans, John (St Helens N) | McKelvey, William |
| Ewing, Mrs Margaret | Mackinlay, Andrew |
| Fatchett, Derek | McLeish, Henry |
| Faulds, Andrew | Maclennan, Robert |
| Field, Frank (Birkenhead) | McMaster, Gordon |
| Fisher, Mark | McNamara, Kevin |
| Flynn, Paul | McWilliam, John |
| Foster, Rt Hon Derek | Madden, Max |
| Foulkes, George | Maginnis, Ken |
| Fraser, John | Mahon, Alice |
| Fyfe, Maria | Mallon, Seamus |
| Galbraith, Sam | Mendelson, Peter |
| Galloway, George | Marek, Dr John |
| Gapes, Mike | Marshall, David (Shettleston) |
| Garrett, John | Marshall, Jim (Leicester, S) |
| George, Bruce | Martin, Michael J. (Springburn) |
| Gerrard, Neil | Martlew, Eric |
| Godman, Dr Norman A. | Maxton, John |
| Golding, Mrs Llin | Meacher, Michael |
| Gordon, Mildred | Meale, Alan |
| Graham, Thomas | Michael, Alun |
| Grant, Bemie (Tottenham) | Michie, Bill (Sheffield Heeley) |
| Griffiths, Win (Bridgend) | Michie, Mrs Ray (Argyll Bute) |
| Grocott, Bruce | Milburn, Alan |
| Gunnell, John | Miller, Andrew |
| Hain, Peter | Mitchell, Austin (Gt Grimsby) |
| Hall, Mike | Molyneaux, Rt Hon James |
| Hanson, David | Moonie, Dr Lewis |
| Harvey, Nick | Morgan, Rhodri |
| Hattersley, Rt Hon Roy | Morley, Elliot |
| Henderson, Doug | Morris, Rt Hon A. (Wy'nshawe) |
| Hendron, Dr Joe | Morris, Estelle (B'ham Yardley) |
| Heppell, John | Mowlam, Marjorie |
| Hill, Keith (Streatham) | Mudie, George |
| Hinchliffe, David | Mullin, Chris |
| Hoey, Kate | Murphy, Paul |
| Hogg, Norman (Cumbernauld) | O'Brien, Michael (N W'kshire) |
| Home Robertson, John | O'Brien, William (Normanton) |
| Hood, Jimmy | O'Hara, Edward |
| Hoon, Geoffrey | Olner, William |
| Howarth, George (Knowsley N) | Parry, Robert |
| Howells, Dr. Kim (Pontypridd) | Patchett, Terry |
| Hoyle, Doug | Pendry, Tom |
| Hughes, Kevin (Doncaster N) | Pickthall, Colin |
| Hughes, Robert (Aberdeen N) | Pike, Peter L. |
| Hughes, Roy (Newport E) | Pope, Greg |
| Hume, John | Powell, Ray (Ogmore) |
| Illsley, Eric | Prentice, Gordon (Pendle) |
| Ingram, Adam | Prescott, John |
| Jackson, Glenda (H'stead) | Primarolo, Dawn |
| Jackson, Helen (Shef'ld, H) | Purchase, Ken |
| Jamieson, David | Quin, Ms Joyce |
| Janner, Greville | Radice, Giles |
| Jones, Ieuan Wyn (Ynys Môn) | Randall, Stuart |
| Jones, Jon Owen (Cardiff C) | Raynsford, Nick |
| Jones, Lynne (B'ham S O) | Reid, Dr John |
| Jones, Martyn (Clwyd, SW) | Robertson, George (Hamilton) |
| Jones, Nigel (Cheltenham) | Robinson, Geoffrey (Co'try NW) |
| Jowell, Tessa | Roche, Mrs. Barbara |
| Kaufman, Rt Hon Gerald | Rooker, Jeff |
| Keen, Alan | Rooney, Terry |
| Kennedy, Charles (Ross,C&S) | Ross, Emie (Dundee W) |
| Kennedy, Jane (Lpool Brdgn) | Ross, William (E Londonderry) |
| Khabra, Piara S. | Rowlands, Ted |
| Kilfoyle, Peter | Ruddock, Joan |
| Kinnock, Rt Hon Neil (Islwyn) | Sedgemore, Brian |
| Kirkwood, Archy | Sheldon, Rt Hon Robert |
| Lestor, Joan (Eccles) | Shore, Rt Hon Peter |
| Lewis, Terry | Short, Clare |
| Livingstone, Ken | Skinner, Dennis |
| Lloyd, Tony (Stretford) | Smith, Andrew (Oxford E) |
| Llwyd, Elfyn | Smith, C. (Isl'ton S & F'sbury) |
| Smith, Llew (Blaenau Gwent) | Wallace, James |
| Smyth, Rev Martin (Belfast S) | Walley, Joan |
| Soley, Clive | Wardell, Gareth (Gower) |
| Spearing, Nigel | Wareing, Robert N |
| Spellar, John | Watson, Mike |
| Squire, Rachel (Dunfermline W) | Welsh, Andrew |
| Steel, Rt Hon Sir David | Williams, Rt Hon Alan (Sw'n W) |
| Steinberg, Gerry | Williams, Alan W (Carmarthen) |
| Stevenson, George | Wilson, Brian |
| Stott, Roger | Winnick, David |
| Strang, Dr. Gavin | Wise, Audrey |
| Taylor, Mrs Ann (Dewsbury) | Worthington, Tony |
| Taylor, Rt Hon John D. (Strgfd) | Wray, Jimmy |
| Taylor, Matthew (Truro) | Wright, Dr Tony |
| Trimble, David | Young, David (Bolton SE) |
| Turner, Dennis | |
| Tyler, Paul | Tellers for the Ayes: |
| Vaz, Keith | Mr. John Hutton and |
| Walker, Rt Hon Sir Harold | Mr. Stephen Byers. |
| NOES | |
| Ainsworth, Peter (East Surrey) | Davis, David (Boothfery) |
| Aitken, Jonathan | Day, Stephen |
| Alison, Rt Hon Michael (Selby) | Deva, Nirj Joseph |
| Amess, David | Devlin, Tim |
| Ancram, Michael | Dickens, Geoffrey |
| Arbuthnot, James | Dorrell, Stephen |
| Arnold, Jacques (Gravesham) | Douglas-Hamilton, Lord James |
| Arnold, Sir Thomas (Hazel Grv) | Dover, Den |
| Ashby, David | Duncan, Alan |
| Aspinwall, Jack | Duncan-Smith, Iain |
| Atkins, Robert | Dunn, Bob |
| Atkinson, Peter (Hexham) | Dykes, Hugh |
| Baker, Rt Hon K. (Mole Valley) | Eggar, Tim |
| Baker, Nicholas (Dorset North) | Elletson, Harold |
| Baldry, Tony | Evans, David (Welwyn Hatfield) |
| Banks, Matthew (Southport) | Evans, Jonathan (Brecon) |
| Banks, Robert (Harrogate) | Evans, Nigel (Ribble Valley) |
| Bates, Michael | Evans, Roger (Monmouth) |
| Bellingham, Henry | Evennett, David |
| Bendall, Vivian | Fabricant, Michael |
| Beresford, Sir Paul | Fairbairn, Sir Nicholas |
| Biffen, Rt Hon John | Field, Barry (Isle of Wight) |
| Blackburn, Dr John G. | Fishburn, Dudley |
| Body, Sir Richard | Forman, Nigel |
| Bonsor, Sir Nicholas | Forth, Eric |
| Booth, Hartley | Fowler, Rt Hon Sir Norman |
| Boswell, Tim | Fox, Dr Liam (Woodspring) |
| Bottomley, Peter (Eltham) | Fox, Sir Marcus (Shipley) |
| Bottomley, Rt Hon Virginia | Freeman, Rt Hon Roger |
| Bowden, Andrew | French, Douglas |
| Bowis, John | Gale, Roger |
| Boyson, Rt Hon Sir Rhodes | Gallie, Phil |
| Brandreth, Gyles | Gardiner, Sir George |
| Brazier, Julian | Garel-Jones, Rt Hon Tristan |
| Bright, Graham | Garnier, Edward |
| Brooke, Rt Hon Peter | Gill, Christopher |
| Browning, Mrs. Angela | Gillan, Cheryl |
| Bruce, Ian (S Dorset) | Goodlad, Rt Hon Alastair |
| Burns, Simon | Goodson-Wickes, Dr Charles |
| Carlisle, John (Luton North) | Gorman, Mrs Teresa |
| Carlisle, Kenneth (Lincoln) | Gorst, John |
| Carrington, Matthew | Grant, Sir A. (Cambs SW) |
| Carttiss, Michael | Greenway, Harry (Ealing N) |
| Cash, William | Greenway, John (Ryedale) |
| Chapman, Sydney | Griffiths, Peter (Portsmouth, N) |
| Clappison, James | Hague, William |
| Clark, Dr Michael (Rochford) | Hamilton, Neil (Tatton) |
| Clifton-Brown, Geoffrey | Hampson, Dr Keith |
| Coe, Sebastian | Hanley, Jeremy |
| Colvin, Michael | Hannam, Sir John |
| Congdon, David | Hargreaves, Andrew |
| Conway, Derek | Harris, David |
| Coombs, Simon (Swindon) | Haselhurst, Alan |
| Cope, Rt Hon Sir John | Hawkins, Nick |
| Couchman, James | Hawksley, Warren |
| Cran, James | Hayes, Jerry |
| Currie, Mrs Edwina (S D'by'ire) | Heald, Oliver |
| Curry, David (Skipton & Ripon) | Heath, Rt Hon Sir Edward |
| Davies, Quentin (Stamford) | Heathcoat-Amory, David |
| Hendry, Charles | Patnick, Irvine |
| Hicks, Robert | Pawsey, James |
| Higgins, Rt Hon Sir Terence L. | Peacock, Mrs Elizabeth |
| Hill, James (Southampton Test) | Pickles, Eric |
| Hogg, Rt Hon Douglas (G'tham) | Porter, Barry (Wirral S) |
| Horam, John | Porter, David (Waveney) |
| Hordern, Rt Hon Sir Peter | Portillo, Rt Hon Michael |
| Howard, Rt Hon Michael | Redwood, Rt Hon John |
| Howarth, Alan (Strat'rd-on-A) | Richards, Rod |
| Howell, Rt Hon David (G'dford) | Riddick, Graham |
| Hughes Robert G. (Harrow W) | Robathan, Andrew |
| Hunt, Rt Hon David (Wirral W) | Roberts, Rt Hon Sir Wyn |
| Hunter, Andrew | Robertson, Raymond (Ab'd'n S) |
| Jackson, Robert (Wantage) | Robinson, Mark (Somerton) |
| Jenkin, Bemard | Roe, Mrs Marion (Broxbourne) |
| Jessel, Toby | Rowe, Andrew (Mid Kent) |
| Johnson Smith, Sir Geoffrey | Rumbold, Rt Hon Dame Angela |
| Jones, Gwilym (Cardiff N) | Ryder, Rt Hon Richard |
| Jones, Robert B. (W Hertfdshr) | Sackville, Tom |
| Jopling, Rt Hon Michael | Scott, Rt Hon Nicholas |
| Kellett-Bowman, Dame Elaine | Shaw, David (Dover) |
| Key, Robert | Shaw, Sir Giles (Pudsey) |
| Kilfedder, Sir James | Shepherd, Rt Hon Gillian |
| King, Rt Hon Tom | Shepherd, Richard (Aldridge) |
| Kirkhope, Timothy | Shersby, Michael |
| Knapman, Roger | Sims, Roger |
| Knight, Mrs Angela (Erewash) | Skeet, Sir Trevor |
| Knight, Greg (Derby N) | Smith, Tim (Beaconsfield) |
| Knight, Dame Jill (Bir'm E'st'n) | Soames, Nicholas |
| Knox, Sir David | Spicer, Sir James (W Dorset) |
| Kynoch, George (Kincardine) | Spicer, Michael (S Worcs) |
| Lait, Mrs Jacqui | Spink, Dr Robert |
| Lang, Rt Hon Ian | Spring, Richard |
| Lawrence, Sir Ivan | Sproat, Iain |
| Legg, Barry | Squire, Robin (Hornchurch) |
| Leigh, Edward | Stanley, Rt Hon Sir John |
| Lennox-Boyd, Mark | Steen, Anthony |
| Lester, Jim (Broxtowe) | Stephen, Michael |
| Lidington, David | Stewart, Allan |
| Lightbown, David | Streeter, Gary |
| Lilley, Rt Hon Peter | Sumberg, David |
| Lloyd, Rt Hon Peter (Fareham) | Sweeney, Walter |
| Lord, Michael | Sykes, John |
| Luff, Peter | Tapsell, Sir Peter |
| Lyell, Rt Hon Sir Nicholas | Taylor, Ian (Esher) |
| MacGregor, Rt Hon John | Taylor, John M. (Solihull) |
| Maclean, David | Taylor, Sir Teddy (Southend, E) |
| McLoughlin, Patrick | Temple-Morris, Peter |
| McNair-Wilson, Sir Patrick | Thomason, Roy |
| Major, Rt Hon John | Thompson, Sir Donald (C'er V) |
| Malone, Gerald | Thompson, Patrick (Norwich N) |
| Mans, Keith | Thornton, Sir Malcolm |
| Marland, Paul | Thurnham, Peter |
| Marlow, Tony | Townsend, Cyril D. (Bexl'yh'th) |
| Marshall, John (Hendon S) | Tracey, Richard |
| Martin, David (Portsmouth S) | Tredinnick, David |
| Mates, Michael | Trend, Michael |
| Mawhinney, Rt Hon Dr Brian | Trotter, Neville |
| Merchant, Piers | Twinn, Dr Ian |
| Mills, Iain | Vaughan, Sir Gerard |
| Mitchell, Andrew (Gedling) | Viggers, Peter |
| Mitchell, Sir David (Hants NW) | Walden, George |
| Moate, Sir Roger | Walker, Bill (N Tayside) |
| Monro, Sir Hector | Waller, Gary |
| Montgomery, Sir Fergus | Wardle, Charles (Bexhill) |
| Moss, Malcolm | Waterson, Nigel |
| Nelson, Anthony | Watts, John |
| Neubert, Sir Michael | Wells, Bowen |
| Newton, Rt Hon Tony | Wheeler, Rt Hon Sir John |
| Nicholls, Patrick | Whitney, Ray |
| Nicholson, David (Taunton) | Whittingdale, John |
| Nicholson, Emma (Devon West) | Widdecombe, Ann |
| Norris, Steve | Wiggin, Sir Jerry |
| Onslow, Rt Hon Sir Cranley | Willetts, David |
| Oppenheim, Phillip | Wilshire, David |
| Ottaway, Richard | Winterton, Mrs Ann (Congleton) |
| Page, Richard | Winterton, Nicholas (Macc'f'ld) |
| Paice, James | Wolfson, Mark |
| Wood, Timothy | Tellers for the Noes: |
| Yeo, Tim | Mr. Andrew MacKay and |
| Young, Rt Hon Sir George | Mr. Michael Brown. |
§ Question accordingly negatived.