At the moment political parties face higher fines for data protection breaches than they do for breaking election law. The risk is that fines for breaking election law just become part of the cost of doing business for political parties, especially those with the deepest pockets and richest donors. The Electoral Commission must be independent of both the Government and Parliament. Continue reading “Elections Bill Committee Stage Day 1”
I do not understand why the Government are trying to move people to other countries. This makes no sense, and it is one of the many ways that the Government are trying to avoid their obligations. Instead of trying to deport people while the Government dither about processing their claims, we should provide them with decent accommodation and work so that they can start to retrieve some of their lives. If there was ever a moment when this Government should come out against the far-right ideology within their own ranks, this is it.
The Home Secretary said yesterday in the Commons that we have a “unique scheme” for accepting refugees. Yes, it is a unique scheme. It is uniquely complicated. It is mean spirited. It is slow compared with those of every other country in Europe. It is not something to brag about.
I had a dream last night that we had a snap general election which would have meant that this Bill, along with the police Bill and others, would have fallen and I woke up very happy. Continue reading “Nationality & Borders Bill Report Stage Days 2&3”
Animals are not there for our sport, or to be killed for our pleasure. They are part of their environment and we should leave them alone.
· 9 in 10 voters back an immediate ban on trophies
· British trophy hunters kill lions – many of them bred in captivity and shot in enclosures.
· They also shoot leopards, giraffes and endangered polar bears.
· British trophy hunters are among the world’s biggest elephant hunters.
· Hundreds of animals have been killed by British trophy hunters since the Government announced its pledge to ban trophies in the 2019 Queen’s Speech.
· 40,000+ submissions were made to the Government’s public consultation on trophy hunting, including from scientists, wildlife experts, and people in Africa. Almost 9 in 10 backed a ban.
If this Government were brave, they would go out and celebrate the asylum system and create one that was fit for purpose and champion the UK as a place of refuge. But this Government are not brave: they pander to the far right and use national rhetoric to divide and rule. At this point, the Government ought to reflect on the whole Bill and realise it is not appropriate for the circumstances we are in. It is cruel, it is inhumane, and quite honestly, the invasion of Ukraine should be a turning point for us. The Government should abandon the Bill and start thinking about a “refugees are welcome” Bill. Continue reading “Nationality & Borders Bill Report Stage Day 1”
A couple of months back, I said that every single Bill the Government brought to this House was worse than the last, but this is an exception. It is not as bad as I expected, so well done to the Government for bringing such a puny Bill that we can probably throw most of it out. The Bill continues the Government’s piecemeal approach to constitutional change: a little bit is tweaked here and a little bit there, but no overview is taken and so nothing coherent comes out.
We need an opportunity to look at how government and power should operate in a modern democratic state. The proper way forward is obvious: we need a constitutional convention made up of experts and members of the public to determine how and why government should work. Instead of that, we have these scrappy little bits of legislative change.
The procedural stuff in the Bill is an attempt by the Government to save money in the justice system and to unclog the backlog in the courts, which have been atrociously underfunded. These measures might help but are no replacement for proper investment in the justice process. Continue reading “Judicial Review and Courts Bill Second Reading”
The National, a scottish newspaper, has now clarified that the quote saying I had spoken in “favour of female trans prisoners being held in the male prison estate”, was in fact an interpretation of my views by three Scottish Greens groups, rather than actual words used by me. I thank them for changing the article to make that clear.
I return to this “shaming” part of the Bill. Every time I think we have got to the worst part, I turn a page and it is even worse. We are talking about the incredibly distressing circumstances of many of these people. They are victims of slavery. They have possibly been groomed, tricked or kidnapped and brought to the UK. Instead of helping them or demonstrating even an ounce of compassion, this Government are treating them all as if they have done something wrong. Continue reading “Nationality and Borders Bill Committee Stage Day 5: Refugees”
There will be many climate—ecological—emergencies over the next decade or so and, given that we have contributed a large part of the world’s accumulated CO2 emissions, we have to understand that we have a moral duty to take our share of climate refugees. It is already happening. There are parts of Africa that are now almost uninhabitable because of climate change, and other places will shortly follow. We have to understand that refugees are not a temporary problem but a permanent problem, and there will be a lot more. This Bill should be setting out safe routes and establishing ways to get people to the UK safely and legally. At the moment, we do not have that because the Government are pulling up the drawbridge. Continue reading “Nationality and Borders Bill Committee Stage Day 4: Refugees”
Asylum seekers should be allowed to work, banning people from working is just one of the many ways that the Government dehumanise and punish asylum seekers. Why would we not want them to work? Why would we not want them to play a role in society? Why would we not want to engage them and get them out of the probably dreadful accommodation that they are living in? Where is the logic in not letting them work? It will leave them destitute, which is not healthy for them or for us. Continue reading “Nationality and Borders Bill Committee Stage Day 3: Refugees”
We have a moral duty to take refugees. A lot of these refugees are coming from countries we have invaded, or where we have interfered or done all sorts of things, whether it is burning too much fossil fuel, causing climate change, or destabilising their Governments. It is all very well referring to population density and so on, but we owe these people and we should never forget that. We should also be making it as easy as possible for children to obtain a nationality if they are already stateless. Continue reading “Nationality and Borders Bill Committee Stage Days 1&2: Refugees”
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb 