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Originally Posted by furball
A private member's bill is one introduced by someone who isn't part of the Government (i.e. either a backbencher in the ruling party, or a member of the Opposition). If it's not supported by the Government, it very rarely gets anywhere.
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'411 MPs in support' sounds like the support of 'rather a lot' of the government to me, given the Opposition was against it.
edit, besides, my chief point was that there
was a 'full and proper debate', or at least a semblance of one. Anyway though; turkeys do so rarely vote for Christmas and I felt this was evident in a lot of the debate in the Lords - note that whereas the Burns report suggests licensing rather than self-regulation, the House as a whole went with the latter. Why? Because it was better for them. Unless, of course, the most significant study undertaken by the House was ill-advised in its conclusions, in which case your argument has ...problems.