Category: Civil liberties

Government, the police and intelligence services are too easily given sweeping powers that they too often abuse

Jenny works with campaigners to defend our civil liberties

Read on for her latest posts on this topic

Domestic Abuse Bill

Published on by jonesjb

The Green Party recognises that, in the majority of cases, the limited use of drugs for recreational purposes is not harmful; it actually has the potential to improve well-being and even enhance human relationships and creativity. However, most harmful drug use is underpinned by poverty, isolation, mental or physical illness and psychological trauma—in these cases, harmful drug use can cause a vicious circle. This Bill will have a gaping hole if it does not properly address the complex relationships between domestic abuse and harmful drug use... Continue reading “Domestic Abuse Bill” →

Today I wrote to Cressida Dick regarding unlawful sexual relations between undercover police officers and their targets

Published on by jonesjb

Dear Commissioner

During the Policing and Security APPG on 14th Dec 2020 I asked you what investigations were happening within the Met on the issue of the historic unlawful sexual relations between undercover police officers and their targets.

You told me that there were no ongoing investigations, yet the HoL Minister has made it clear in the debate on the CHIS Bill that such interactions are now and always have been unlawful. It seems remiss not to examine previous instructions to establish wrongdoing by senior officers.                       

Can you please therefore outline, in full, the Met’s position on whether these sexual relations were lawful. Could you also please explain when and why the Met decided to take no further action on the issue?

The Trade Bill: Report Stage – ISDS

Published on by jonesjb

If you wanted to convince the public that international trade agreements are a way to let multinational companies get rich at the expense of ordinary people, this is what you would do: give foreign firms a special right to apply to a secretive tribunal of highly paid corporate lawyers for compensation whenever a government passes a law to, say, discourage smoking, protect the environment or prevent a nuclear catastrophe… a process known as ‘investor-state dispute settlement‘, or ISDS.
(The Economist, October 2014)

This Trade Bill the government has written includes ISDS…

Continue reading “The Trade Bill: Report Stage – ISDS” →

HS2 Bill Amendment 10

Published on by jonesjb

Amendment 10 is a pretty good amendment and something to work towards, even if it is not accepted today. It would require a report every six months rather than annually; “indirect impacts” are explicitly mentioned; and it would require a report to Parliament by the Secretary of State, with a four-week consultation period, rather than no consultation at all.

Continue reading “HS2 Bill Amendment 10” →

Trade Bill Report Stage day 1

Published on by jonesjb

The Government have put the Trade and Agriculture Commission on a statutory footing – with Amendments 49 and 50 giving it a degree of permanency – and have even seemed to incorporate what we were pushing for, in that it should have its own staff and facilities, but then government Amendment 36 throws all that out. A Secretary of State can ditch the whole thing with a statutory instrument. How is that sticking to a promise about making this a body that can properly do the job?

Continue reading “Trade Bill Report Stage day 1” →

Police Spies – Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS) – Bill Committee Stage Day 3

Published on by jonesjb

The Government say that amendments such as these are not necessary, because of the complex legal web of proportionality and the Human Rights Act. That argument might carry more weight if the Government were not constantly fighting a culture war against human rights lawyers. However, one does not need to be a human rights lawyer to understand that rape, murder and torture are never justified, so these restrictions have to be in the Bill.

Continue reading “Police Spies – Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS) – Bill Committee Stage Day 3” →