Category: Other issues

Nationality and Borders Bill Committee Stage Day 3: Refugees

Published on by jonesjb

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” →

Nationality and Borders Bill Committee Stage Days 1&2: Refugees

Published on by jonesjb

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” →

The Subsidy Control Bill Committee Stage Day One: Scottish devolution amendments

Published on by jonesjb

In the Scottish independence referendum, the people of Scotland were promised devo-max. They received no such thing and then Brexit came along and gave this Government an excuse to steadily unpick devolution and centralise power in the UK Government. These amendments allow the Senedd Cymru and the Scottish Parliament actually to decide issues for themselves. The legislation itself is deeply annoying because this should be standard in every Bill. Continue reading “The Subsidy Control Bill Committee Stage Day One: Scottish devolution amendments” →

Inaccurate report in The National newspaper – Trans people in prison

Published on by greenlordsmedia

I was inaccurately quoted in The National newspaper on 26th January regarding a debate in the Lords on Amendment 97 to the Policing Bill. The newspaper appears to have picked up a report from social media without checking with Hansard and some in the Scottish Green Party may have believed this quote reflected what I said.

Continue reading “Inaccurate report in The National newspaper – Trans people in prison” →

Met Police must explain Gray report censorship

Published on by greenlordsmedia

In response to the Met Police request for the Sue Gray report to ‘minimise’ references to parties at Number 10, Baroness Jenny Jones said:

“The Met Police need to explain why they want key details of the Sue Gray report to be censored, unless they have an expectation that there will be a jury trial as a result of the investigation and it would be prejudicial. The failure of the Met Police to start their investigation weeks ago raIsed suspicions that they were shielding the Prime Minister. By launching an investigation just before Sue Gray’s report is due out and then requesting she delete the majority of the references to the parties at Number 10, they are compounding those suspicions. Unless the Met Police can provide a clear reason why the detailed information should not be made public then I think the report should be published in full, or it will be seen as partial and incomplete.”

Lords debate concerns over lack of publicity for Highway Code changes

Published on by greenlordsmedia

Green Party Baroness, Jenny Jones, is putting a motion of regret that will be debated in the Lords Thursday, 27th January. The motion reads:

“to move that this House regrets the draft Revision of the Highway Code because, despite making important changes to protect road users from harm, Her Majesty’s Government has failed sufficiently to educate the public on the changes.”

Jenny is worried that the lack of publicity for the changes will lead to conflicts between drivers who are unaware of the new rules and pedestrians/cyclists who are asserting their rights under the new guidance.

View the motion here

Repeal of the Vagrancy Act

Published on by jonesjb

The Vagrancy Act is relic of an age when being homeless was a crime, it made it a criminal offence to beg or be homeless on the street in England and Wales. The law was passed in the summer of 1824.

One of my favourite podcast interviews in the Jen’s Green Jam series was with Lord Bird, founder of the Big Issue. He spoke then about getting rid of the Vagrancy Act and afterwards, I was left wondering if it was one of those issues that had to wait for a change of government. Continue reading “Repeal of the Vagrancy Act” →

Greens celebrate House of Lords defeat of draconian government ideas

Published on by greenlordsmedia

The House of Lords inflicted a staggering 14 defeats on the government in one historic evening, with a further 5 government amendments being withdrawn.

The Lords seized their chance to reject most of the 18 pages of late government amendments to the Police, Crime and Sentencing Bill. This forces Ministers to either drop these proposals or bring them back in completely separate legislation at a later date. The Lords only have this power on very rare occasions because the government introduced the amendments late and by-passed scrutiny in the commons.

Continue reading “Greens celebrate House of Lords defeat of draconian government ideas” →

Police Bill: Monday vote explained

Published on by greenlordsmedia

Since the last General Election gave the Conservative Party an 80+ seat majority of MPs in the Commons, they have pushed through some bad legislation. When these Bills come to the Lords, it’s our job to look at them line by line and try to improve them by carefully considered amendments. Which mostly the Tory-dominated Commons immediately throw out*.

Continue reading “Police Bill: Monday vote explained” →