THAT stalking needed to be outlawed was evident from the number of disturbing cases pointing to lack of a legal framework to deal with offenders.

Indeed, some went free because stalking itself was not a crime.

Yet, now that the government has given in to pressure from MPs and police and is to bring in a law "at the earliest opportunity" - having previously refused to back the call for stalkers to be jailed for up to five years - the sense of relief is far from complete.

That is because there was already proposed legislation at hand and ready to be enacted far earlier - in the form of the Private Member's Bill from Rossendale and Darwen MP Janet Anderson.

The government has ditched support for this in favour of its own Bill. But, despite the pledge of early action, because of the short, uncertain time the government has left in office, it may never see the light of day.

This is no sure way to stamp out a serious, life-wrecking crime.

But why has the government chosen this path?

Mrs Anderson's Bill, after all, was drafted with police support and after talks with the Lord Chancellor, senior Home Office officials and the Suzy Lamplugh Trust.

As such, it can hardly be said to have been drawn up with haste or lack of thought.

But, of course, Mrs Anderson is a Labour MP, a member of the Opposition.

To us, the eschewal of her Bill smacks of the worst kind of political pettiness - that of the government, with voters to impress, seeking the kudos itself for the drive against stalking.

Yet, that is all it may amount to - a political manoeuvre, with an eye on the election, instead of a ready-made law of merit and substance to which a less unscrupulous government would have given its full support today.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.