ROSSENDALE and Darwen MP Janet Anderson has pleaded with the government to perform a U-turn and make time for her stalking Bill to be properly debated following its resurrection in the Lords.

Government whip Michael Bates torpedoed it in the Commons on Friday.

But on Monday Labour's Lord McIntosh of Haringey got it a first reading in the Upper House, guaranteeing a committee stage for Peers to consider it in detail.

Now Mrs Anderson and five Labour women colleagues, have put down a Commons motion calling on the Government to give proper time for MPs to scrutinise the Bill.

She believes any alleged flaws in her Bill can be ironed out in committee.

The Rossendale and Darwen MPs motion condemns the government for obstructing the Bill and says the issue of of such importance for public safety that it should be above party politics.

Mrs Anderson says there is massive public support for the Bill as thousands of people's lives are blighted by stalkers each year and currently neither victims nor police can combat this "social menace".

Mrs Anderson's Bill would make a simple criminal offence of stalking but the Home Office claims it is flawed and too widely drawn and are promising to introduce their own legislation later this year.

But she believes this will mean a delay of up to a year before action is taken while her Bill could be law by the summer.

In a separate Commons motion Mrs Anderson and her five colleagues attack Langbaurgh MP Mr Bates for objecting to her Bill and causing months of unnecessary misery to thousands of victims.

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