---

Coroners and Justice Bill

My Lords, I will not. This is government policy and we expect Members on our Benches to support the Government—I make no bones about it. It is not we who are ambiguous about this, but the noble Lord’s party. In the Commons, their Front Bench spokesman said that their Front Bench would vote to support the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Waddington. That did not sound to me like a free vote, but a hint to those behind him and a message to those sitting on the Front Bench with him. Is it a free vote or not? I recall that the last time that we debated this, in Committee, there was a so-called free vote—the noble Lord used the same expression.