Misogyny and sexism are deeply embedded in our society, we have enshrined our condemnation of racism and homophobia in law, but we are not treating sexism as the same kind of priority and it is time that we did. Domestic abuse training for the police is part of what will help them to take misogynistic crime seriously. We also need to better protect the survivors of domestic abuse through granting them anonymity in court.
Continue reading “Domestic Abuse Bill Committee Stage Day 5”
When people think about domestic abuse, they often think about physical abuse, and perhaps about emotional and mental abuse, but tackling economic abuse is just as important if we are to stamp out domestic abuse. Continue reading “Domestic Abuse Bill Committee Stage Day 5: Economic abuse”
The government has rejected the most basic attempts by the Lords to amend the Covert Human Intelligence Sources Bill. Conservative MPs rejected judicial oversight and they rejected an attempt to rule out rape, murder and torture from the list of crimes that could be authorised. This will give over 500 senior police officers and numerous other organisations the ability to break any law when they (not a judge) deem it reasonable and proportionate to do so.
Continue reading “Spy cops (CHIS) bill back in Lords”
The House of Lords has once again stood firm as a voice of morality and reason as this government seeks to reject any imposition of minimum standards when making trade deals. The Lords has become a major source of opposition to this government as Conservative and independent peers regularly find themselves at odds with the right wing cabal that operates from Downing Street.
Continue reading “Trade, minimum standards and no genocide please”
We have the time and the expertise to scrutinise things, and that is what we should be allowed to get on with. Jenny spoke in the chamber as the government suffered a further three defeats Continue reading “Trade Bill ‘Ping Pong’ – Lords pass a further three amendments after Commons strips out all previous amendments”
I hope this legislation will make it easier and more straightforward for people to get legal protections against an abusive partner or ex-partner. Continue reading “Domestic Abuse Bill Committee Stage Day 3”
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”
Dear MP
Please retain the Lords amendments to the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS) Bill when it returns to the Commons.
Continue reading “A letter to your MP re the Spy Cops (CHIS) Bill”
Jenny Jones: “Labour must dramatically change its position in the next few days on this bill or else it will be complicit in future acts of state oppression”
Green Party peer Jenny Jones has submitted a fatal amendment to the Covert Human Intelligence Sources Bill which will be voted on in the Lords on Thursday during the legislations Third Reading. She has urged Labour MPs and peers not to vote for the spycops bill as it goes through its final stage in the coming week.
We should be taking a much deeper, longer-term look at reforming the whole of land taxes in this country. This is perhaps not the moment—but if not now, when?
Continue reading “Business rates, public toilets and land tax”
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb 