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Coroners and Justice Bill

My Lords, in that case I hope they will read the record of this debate and what I have said because, if provocation remains as a defence, it is a defence for women who may have killed their partners or husbands, rather than the other way around. That is the important point that I hope my speech has got across. I see that the noble Baroness accepts that that is the thrust of what I have been saying. This is a very serious issue. It is quite wrong that a bizarre subsection, as the Law Commission put it, should be part of our legislation. As the noble Lord, Lord Elystan-Morgan, said—I am grateful to him for his support—there are huge misconceptions about this. If this goes through, judges up and down the country will have the greatest practical difficulty sorting what juries can and cannot consider as provocation. I just wish that this Government, instead of tinkering about at the edges, had had the guts to reform the law on homicide completely, as the Law Lords, the Law Commission and noble Lords have requested. I may not be successful this evening. Nevertheless, I ask your Lordships to agree to the amendment in my name. Division on Motion B1 Contents 63; Not-Contents 157. Motion B1 disagreed.