A pager message to Labour Peers had to go through several drafts this afternoon before it was considered to be in a fitting state to send out.  In the end, the message said:

“Votes are expected after dinner on prostitution.  Colleagues are asked to stay for this important business.”

This was a reference to the amendments tabled by the Liberal Democrats which would aim to remove or delete the clauses of the Policing and Crime Bill which make it a “strict liability offence” for somebody to pay another person for sex, if that person has been trafficked or is being coerced into being a prostitute.   (It would not be a defence for the person paying to claim that hadn’t known that the prostitute was trafficked.)

Apparently, the original pager message had said something along the lines of:

“We will move on to prostitution after dinner.  Please be ready ….”

There was a concern about Peers who might have left their pagers at home and whose spouses might read and misinterpret the message.

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