The business of killing
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1447012,00.html
After eight years of delays, the corporate manslaughter bill has been
neutered to please employers
George Monbiot
Tuesday March 29, 2005
The Guardian
It is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, or a tap on the
head with a steam hammer. But only just. The new draft bill on
corporate manslaughter is a ghost of what was once proposed. But, for
the first time in the United Kingdom, there might now be a chance of
prosecuting large companies for killing their workers.
No one could accuse the government of rushing. It first promised to
introduce an offence of corporate killing at the 1997 Labour
conference. It promised again in a Home Office consultation paper in
2000, and again in that year's Queen's speech. Nothing happened, but
the promise was repeated in Labour's 2001 manifesto. In May 2003, the
Home Office promised a draft bill in the autumn. That autumn, it
promised one in the spring. In February 2004, it promised it would be
produced in April. In April, it promised the bill would be published
during the current parliamentary session. In September, Tony Blair
promised that the promise would be kept. Two weeks later, the home
secretary said it would come out in the autumn. Autumn, and the
parliamentary session came and went. In the Queen's speech at the end
of November, the government promised to publish the bill before
Christmas. Soon afterwards, it promised that the bill would appear on
December 21. On December 17, it confessed this wasn't going to happen,
but promised it would be published during the current parliamentary
session.
George Monbiot
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