In this issue

• Rwanda Bill Ping Pong 20th March
• The Labour Party – getting ready to rule?
• Victims and Prisoners Bill – IPP prisoners
• Natalie’s book out 21st March

The Government is pushing ahead with the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill and Labour are refusing to stop them. Third Reading took place on Tuesday, the Commons will consider it again at the start of next week and the bill will return to the Lords on 20th March. Jenny has repeatedly spoken against the Bill but her efforts are futile when Labour continue with their efforts to rewrite the Salisbury Convention…

The established constitutional principle of the Salisbury convention is that the House of Lords does not block manifesto commitments, but there is an ongoing effort by the Official Opposition to replace the Salisbury convention with a much stricter restriction on the House of Lords. Namely, that the Lords must refrain from blocking or delaying any government legislation or other decision. 

Labour are insisting on total deference to the House of Commons, the rationale that they have expressed is that the elected House of Commons have expressed their view, and the unelected Lords must not then interfere, but this begs the question of what is the purpose of the Lords at all – many describe it as a “revising chamber” but most of those revisions are rejected by the Commons. As a result of Labour abstentions, the Lords have not blocked any government legislation in recent years, no matter how strongly Peers have expressed their opposition. Without the Official Opposition acting as such, it is impossible to defeat the government on any vote and many issues are not even pushed to a vote if Labour whips haven’t agreed to support a vote.

Given that no single Party has a majority in the House of Lords – but Labour, LibDem and crossbench Peers can routinely muster enough votes together to defeat the Conservative Government – this refusal by Labour Peers to defeat government legislation has, in practice, rendered the Salisbury convention moot for around a decade. It remains to be seen whether a change in government and official opposition would see this principle be continued forward as a convention, or whether the Labour Party’s reticence to interfere at all with the will of the Commons is just a blip in history. By the very nature of constitutional conventions, the Official Opposition’s attempt at establishing a new constitutional convention can only succeed if future constitutional actors (i.e. Conservatives in Opposition) agree that such convention exists and restrict themselves accordingly. It is therefore a gamble: will a future Official Opposition agree, and refuse to block any government legislation; or will they stick to the established Salisbury convention? The Labour front bench may have temporarily constrained the exercise of the Lords’ proper powers for naught. 

This issue is such an obvious and horrific injustice that it has managed to unite and rally Peers across the furthest divides in the House of Lords, from the most right wing Tories to the most radical on these opposition benches, and everyone in between. 

As Greens, we believe that far too many people are imprisoned when there are more effective ways of tackling the causes of offending and reoffending. 

The IPP sentences are a brutal tool – there is no theory or doctrine of justice that can justify them. They do nothing to rehabilitate offenders and nothing to repair the damage done by the offending. Far from protecting the public from harm, we are giving early release to other prisoners, some of whom have committed far worse crimes.

I can understand the anger of people who say we should lock up serial murderers or rapists and throw away the key, but we have done it to people who have grabbed someone’s mobile phone, or a seventeen year old who steals a bike. These IPP sentences are blocking prison cells that could house actual dangerous criminals. . 

The solution is simple and obvious. Get a few judges in a room and resentence these prisoners. End this stain on justice.   

Natalie and Jenny offer tours to Green Party groups on Tuesday afternoons when the House is sitting. If you have a group of 6 party members who would like to visit please email wilsonc@parliament.uk

To find out more about our work:

• Visit Jenny’s website and ‘They work for you‘ listings
• Visit Natalie’s website and ‘They work for you‘ listings

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In hope and solidarity,

The House of Lords team

Promoted by Chris Williams on behalf of The Green Party, both at PO Box 78066, London, SE16 9GQ