MPs revolt over plans to lock up the sick

The Government has been forced to rethink plans to lock up the mentally ill before they have committed an offence.

Alan Milburn, the Secretary of State for Health, is extending the time MPs are allowed to raise objections to the draft Mental Health Bill amid fears of a Labour backbench rebellion.

Senior Labour politicians have told The Independent on Sunday they will vote against the Government unless ministers make substantial changes to the Bill.

David Hinchliffe, chairman of the influential Health Select Committee, said the Government's policy on dangerous personality disorders was "wrong".

"I've got very serious concerns. I would not support the Bill without amendments, and a significant number of MPs feel the same," said the MP, who has worked in social and mental health services.

New figures show an alarming rise in the number of people on the point of suicide calling national helplines. Sane, the mental health charity, has reported a 57 per cent increase in calls over the last three years. Callers with a suicide plan have almost doubled in the same period, from 541 in 1999 to 849 in 2001.

The charity said the mentally ill had been driven to desperate measures because of the long waiting times to receive treatment.

Marjorie Wallace, Sane's chief executive, said: "We are deeply concerned that, with such a deterioration of services ... many mentally ill people have become so desperate that they no longer believe life is worth living. When they seek help, hundreds tell us they've been turned away."

The Independent on Sunday is leading a campaign for better treatment of the mentally ill, which is calling for the transfer of patients wrongly detained in high-security mental hospitals.

Two years ago, an investigation by the Health Select Committee was highly critical of plans to lock up the mentally ill who have not committed an offence. Its report was based on evidence from the Government's own mental health advisers. However, ministers have pressed ahead with draconian mental health reforms.

The MP Dr Doug Naysmith, a member of the Health Select Committee, said people should be allowed the right to be involved in decisions about their treatment.

"The NHS services are underfunded," said Dr Naysmith. "I'm worried about the stigmatising of people who in a thousand years would not be harmful."

His views are shared by Dr Howard Stoate MP, secretary of the Labour party's health committee and a member of the all parliamentary group on care and public health.

"This needs to be thought through," he said. "It's very difficult to make a risk assessment and the danger is we may lock people up and still may not reduce crime very much."

Sane can be contacted on 0845 767 8000.