Companies should be able to apologise without admitting liability, says Conservative MP

Companies should be able to apologise without accepting liability, a Tory MP has urged, as he gets ready to introduce a Ten Minute Rule Bill to restore “civility”.

John Howell has argued changes should be made to the legal system in England and Wales to allow apologies to be issued in certain proceedings.

The chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dispute Resolution said ministers had vowed to keep an “open mind” on whether to support his Apologies Bill.

The Tory MP for Henley will ask the House of Commons to allow his proposed legislation to be introduced for further consideration on Tuesday.

Mr Howell said: “I think it would be to introduce a great element of civility, particularly at a time when we're short of civility and it would also be an enormous piece of common sense.

“An apology is one way of preventing a dispute from getting out of hand. Lawyers always advise against making one when a mistake happens because it creates a liability of guilt so what this Bill does is to take away that liability.”

Mr Howell said the proposed legislation would have made a “great deal” of difference during the 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy.

He said: “The conversation around Grenfell Tower would have changed immensely if somebody had been able to give an apology at the time.

“Hospitals do have that ability to give an apology but it is so rarely used properly and the apologies are not really meaningful. That is also something that I wish to change”.

The Conservative MP highlighted the introduction of such provision to allow apologies to be made in other nations, as well as several states across the US.

Mr Howell explained: "This is a Bill that has been introduced in Scotland. I have to say, the Scots haven't used it very effectively, but nevertheless it was introduced in Scotland.

"It was also introduced in Hong Kong before the current troubles with the Chinese and it's been introduced in most American states.

"So even in one of the most litigious countries in the world, they do accept that people can make an apology without creating the legal liability."

He continued: "I do think it's overdue. I think that it is one of the tools that it will be lovely to see in existence from the point of alternative dispute resolution because I think it will help people reach a proper settlement of their dispute before it appears in the High Court."

The Bill has received cross-party support from senior Tories Chris Grayling, Greg Clark and Sir Bob Neill as well as from Labour’s Chris Bryant and the SNP’s Kenny MacAskill.

However, it will also need the backing of the Government to pass.  On Sunday evening Ministry of Justice sources suggested ministers would listen to Mr Howell’s Commons speech on Tuesday before making a decision on whether to support the Bill.