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Proceeding contribution from Jack Straw (Labour) in the House of Commons on Monday, 26 January 2009. It occurred during Debate on bill on Coroners and Justice Bill.


Coroners and Justice Bill

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman, and I listened with care to what he said. On his immediate point, there are certain circumstances in which an inquest will be followed by a criminal prosecution, but the usual practice, as he will be aware, is the other way around. That particular issue thus rarely arises in practice. On the more general issue, I am grateful to him for recognising that we have not invented the problem that we are seeking to address by the Bill. He disagrees with the solution and he is right to describe the position in which I find myself as somewhere between a rock and a hard place. It is not his business or that of the official Opposition to make my position any more comfortable, but I would ask him—I know that he has a very constructive approach—to respond as constructively as he and his colleagues can to the invitation I offered the House, including the Opposition, earlier. If it is recognised that there is a problem, and it cannot be resolved in the way that criminal cases can, what is a better solution—there may well be one—than the one in the Bill?


Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
487 c88 
Session
2008-09
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
Children Disclosure of information Data protection Bail Administration of justice Armed forces Death Certification Coroners Juries Electronic surveillance Homosexuality Evidence ICT Incitement Homicide Health professions Internet Discrimination Ethnic groups Freedom of expression Personal records Prisons Mental capacity Pornography Offences against children Sentencing Registration Young people Security Witnesses Victims Technology Suicide Sentencing Council for England and Wales Information sharing
Legislation
Coroners and Justice Bill 2008-09
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk