Government 'committed' to manslaughter Bill, despite defeat

Peers defied ministers last night to back an amendment which would extend the provisions of the Corporate Homicide Bill to cover deaths in prisons and police cells. Reports had previously suggested that ministers would rather withdraw the Bill altogether than accept accept such an amendment.

However, in his latest twice-yearly appearance before the Commons Liaison Committee, Mr Blair insisted that the Government remained committed to the principles of the Bill.

He said ministers would make a "balanced judgement" on the way forward. "We will take it away and look at it again," he said. "I think it is important that we have the Bill but we are going to have to make up our minds on this.

"Our desire is to try to accommodate reasonable opinion as much as possible. It's just, as often happens in government, we have got two diametrically-opposed views as to what the right thing to do is. We have got to try to make a balanced judgment about it."