Continue reading “Police and crime commissioners and panels”
Author: jonesjb
Zan Zendaygee Arzardee!
The demonstrations by the women of Iran are morally justified and incredibly brave in the face of a repressive regime. Are we waiting for the USA to decide before acting ourselves? Wouldn’t it be better if we led the world and supported the Iranian women and their supporters? Continue reading “Zan Zendaygee Arzardee!”
Energy Prices Bill
I understand that something must be done, but this is not it. I want the Minister to explain two issues: will people be able to pay their energy bills, and will this cause more investment in dirty oil and gas? This Bill has so little detail, the Government are proposing to fill in about 90% of the details at a later date, and they expect us to just wave it through. We cannot know the impact of this Bill on ordinary people, but we know the Government have been determined to protect the profits of oil and gas companies. The Government are expecting us to take this Bill on trust and I do not trust the Government. Continue reading “Energy Prices Bill”
Schools Bill update: Minister responds to letter from a home educating parent…
Thank you for your email 5 July, enclosing correspondence from X, regarding the proposals in the Schools Bill for a system of registration for children not in school. I am sorry for the delay in providing you with a response. Continue reading “Schools Bill update: Minister responds to letter from a home educating parent…”
Schools Bill progress
Jenny raised the concerns of home schoolers at the Committee and Report stages of the Schools Bill by tabling a number of amendments, including proposing the deletion of parts of the Bill. She also supported amendments which would have changed the approach to one of offering genuine support, recognising the right to home school, and stopping the coercive approach proposed. Plus we, and many others, have called for the Bill to be halted and a new approach taken.
The CPRE’s Environmental Land Management recommendations
This morning I spoke at the parliamentary launch of CPRE‘s Countryside Next Door report, I said:
The Green Party welcomes moves to improve the stewardship of green belt land and protect access to the countryside for all. These green spaces are vital for the health and wellbeing of those who live in urban areas. Recreation and access to land, which we know are so crucial to human health and well-being, need to be considered alongside what crops we grow on that land. We need to re-localise our food supply, restore the ring of market gardens and orchards that not that long ago surrounded our cities and towns. Instead of vast tracts of monoculture the Green Party wants to see the growing of fruit and vegetables, ideally in a mixed system and managed in ways that are excellent for biodiversity and nature. Continue reading “The CPRE’s Environmental Land Management recommendations”
Second Reading of Schools Bill – Home Education
This bill, if enacted, will see the destruction of the privacy rights of a minority group. The question is why? Given the intrusive nature of the proposals I would, at least, have expected some form of independently reviewed study showing that there is some kind of systemic problem with the freedoms of families who home educate which the Government has been unable to address by other means. Where is that study?
It is a very serious step to compel law abiding families who are educating their children at home, to be subject to statutory enquiries about their children, completely in the absence of any presenting problem. This approach to families crosses a line in the involvement of the state in family life. The state is going to be able to single out a discrete group of law-abiding families from their peer group and then subject them to special monitoring. Continue reading “Second Reading of Schools Bill – Home Education”
No excuse for Bearskin
I have written to the Secretary of State for Defence and the PM as we know now that further tests conducted on ECOPEL’s faux bear fur conclusively show that it meets the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) “five requirements” for the Queen’s Guard’s caps. Continue reading “No excuse for Bearskin”
Nationality and Borders Bill Ping Pong
The Government talk all the time about stopping trafficking gangs, but our Government are becoming a trafficking gang. They are going to take people abroad and leave them there. They are taking them to a country that has human rights abuses. Continue reading “Nationality and Borders Bill Ping Pong”
Let it all fall
The Government have created a legislative deadlock. This was not the fault of this House; it was the fault of the Government, and if this legislation is not passed in the next few days, it falls completely. I have no problem with that—I would like to see it all fall—but the fact is that that probably is not a position this house House can take. However, we can obtain very significant concessions from the Government. They will not want to lose all these Bills, and this is an opportunity for us to throw out the worst bits of the legislation that we have all argued about over the past few months. Continue reading “Let it all fall”
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb 