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Category: Criminal Justice

  • Roger Gale – 2022 Interview on Situation at Manston Asylum Processing Centre

    Roger Gale – 2022 Interview on Situation at Manston Asylum Processing Centre

    The interview broadcast by Sky News with Sir Roger Gale, the Conservative MP for North Thanet, on 31 October 2022.

    INTERVIEWER

    [Mentioned Sir Roger Gale visited Manston yesterday and asked him what the situation was like]

    SIR ROGER GALE

    It’s much worse than it was on my visit last Thursday when there were 2,500 people there. The increase is because of the transfers from Dover, partly as a result of the fire bombing yesterday. There are now 4,000 people in a facility that was designed to hold 1,500 and that is wholly unacceptable. The staff are doing a fantastic job, the home office staff, the civilian staff, the catering staff, the medics are all showing compassion and doing the best they can under very difficult circumstances. But these circumstances I believe now were a problem made in the Home Office.

    INTERVIEWER

    [Asked Sir Roger Gale why he had put down an urgent question in the House of Commons]

    SIR ROGER GALE

    Well, because I think this is something that has to be aired on the floor of the House. The Home Office Minister of State, Robert Jenrick, took the trouble to come and spend three hours with me with Home Office staff going around the facility yesterday, I’ve been before of course. I’m delighted that Robert did take the trouble to come because I think he understands now what really the problem is and I got the impression that he is determined to go away and deal at least with the immediate problem, because there are two issues. There is of course the longer term problem, and very real issue, of cross channel migrants which also has to be addressed in a grown up fashion and not by dog whistle politics.

    INTERVIEWER

    [Asked if Robert Jenrick would have spoken to Home Secretary]

    SIR ROGER GALE

    I am absolutely certain that Robert Jenrick would have spoken to the Home Secretary last night.

    INTERVIEWER

    [What would he have said?]

    SIR ROGER GALE

    Without breaking confidences, I think that Robert will be probably going back and saying not to book hotel accommodation as a matter of policy. Whether that policy was instigated by the previous Home Secretary or this one I’m not clear, but it clearly was a matter of Home Office policy. I think Robert will be saying that was a mistake, we’ve now got to get people out of Manston. So the job that it was doing very efficiently indeed of processing and moving people on can be done again. Until about five weeks ago probably the system was working as it was intended to very well indeed. It’s now broken and it’s got to be mended fast.

    INTERVIEWER

    [Asked if Suella Braverman the right Home Secretary to tackle the issue?]

    SIR ROGER GALE

    I’m not seeking to point fingers at the moment, but I do believe that whoever is responsible, and that is either the previous Home Secretary or this one, has to be held to account because a bad decision was taken. And it’s led to what I would regard as a breach of humane conditions.

    INTERVIEWER

    [Asked Sir Roger Gale if this might end up in the courts?]

    SIR ROGER GALE

    That’s a matter for the courts and not for me. I am concerned obviously with the people that I represent locally, who are concerned about what’s happening in Manston. I’m also concerned for the staff who are trying to do a good job under impossible circumstances and for the human beings including women and children. I saw a kid there yesterday who was younger than my youngest granddaughter who crossed the Channel in a rubber dinghy. It is appalling what has happened at that level, trafficking is appalling and that has got to be dealt with as well. But that’s got to be done on a Pan European basis and in bilateral cooperation with the French. That’s the only way we’re going to solve it. Not by dog whistle knee jerk policies that will not work.

  • Gerry Kelly – 2022 Comments on Loyalist Paramilitaries

    Gerry Kelly – 2022 Comments on Loyalist Paramilitaries

    The comments made by Gerry Kelly, Sinn Fein’s policing spokesperson in Northern Ireland, on 28 October 2022.

    Threats issued to Irish government ministers by loyalist paramilitary gangs under the cover of the Loyalist Communities Council are outrageous.

    Threatening further loyalist violence to the public at large with reference to the ceasefires of 1994 in the words ‘dire consequences for the progress made from 1994 onwards’ is a dangerous and despicable development.

    This is just the latest threat to our democratic process by these loyalist gangs who are intent on dragging society backwards.

    They must desist from these reckless threats and disband now.

    It is a matter of disgrace that almost 25 years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, that loyalist paramilitary gangs are still involved in murder, intimidation, extortion and threats.

    There is an onus on political leaders to call out this intimidation and the continued existence of armed criminal gangs in our society.

  • Yvette Cooper – 2022 Speech on the Departure of the Home Secretary

    Yvette Cooper – 2022 Speech on the Departure of the Home Secretary

    The speech made by Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Home Secretary, in the House of Commons on 20 October 2022.

    I notice that the Home Secretary is not in his place this morning, unless the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, the hon. Member for Bassetlaw (Brendan Clarke-Smith), has been appointed Home Secretary in the last few hours. To be honest, nothing would surprise us at the moment, because this is total chaos. We have a third Home Secretary in seven weeks. The Cabinet was appointed only six weeks ago, but the Home Secretary was sacked, the Chancellor was sacked and the Chief Whip was sacked and then unsacked. We then had the unedifying scenes last night of Conservative MPs fighting like rats in a sack. This is a disgrace.

    The former Home Secretary circulated a letter, and that seems to contradict what the Minister said. She said that the document was

    “a draft Written Ministerial Statement…due for publication imminently”

    that had already been briefed to MPs. Is that not true? Will he explain the answer to that? At what time did the former Home Secretary inform the Cabinet Secretary of the breach? Has a check been made of whether she sent other documents through personal emails, putting security at risk? Was there a 90-minute row about policy between the Prime Minister and the former Home Secretary? Given the huge disagreements we have seen in the last few weeks between the Prime Minister and the former Home Secretary on drugs policy, Rwanda, the India trade deal, seasonal agriculture, small boats—and with a bit of tofu thrown in over the lettuce for good measure—is anything about home affairs agreed on in the Cabinet?

    What we know is that the former Home Secretary has been running her ongoing leadership campaign while the current one is too busy to come to the House because he is doing his spreadsheets on the numbers for whoever he is backing to come next. But who is taking decisions on our national security? It is not the Prime Minister, nor the past or current Home Secretaries. Borders, security and policing are too important for that instability, just as people’s livelihoods are too important for the economic instability that the Conservative party has created. It is not fair on people. To quote the former Home Secretary, this is indeed a total “coalition of chaos”. Why should the country have to put up with this for a single extra day?

    Brendan Clarke-Smith

    I am sure that the right hon. Member is aware that breaches of the ministerial code are a matter for the Cabinet Office, not the Home Office, and that is why I, not the Home Secretary, am here to answer the urgent question. The Prime Minister took advice from the Cabinet Secretary, as we saw from her letter, and she is clear that it is important that the ministerial code is upheld and Cabinet responsibility is respected. The Prime Minister expects Ministers to uphold the highest standards. We have seen her act consistently in that regard.

    These were breaches of the code. The Prime Minister expects her Ministers to uphold the ministerial code, as the public also rightly expect, and she took the requisite advice from the Cabinet Secretary before taking the decision.

    I am mindful that it is not usual policy to comment in detail on such matters, but, if some background would be helpful—I appreciate that much of this is already in the public domain—the documents in question contained draft Government policy, which remained subject to Cabinet Committee agreement. Having such documents on a personal email account and sharing them outside of Government constituted clear breaches of the code—under sections 2.14 and 2.3, if that is helpful to look at. The Prime Minister is clear that the security of Government business is paramount, as is Cabinet responsibility, and Ministers must be held to the highest standards.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2022 Statement on the Casey Report

    Sadiq Khan – 2022 Statement on the Casey Report

    The statement made by Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, on 17 October 2022.

    When I asked the Met to establish this independent review a year ago following a series of shocking scandals involving serving police officers, I was concerned that a serious cultural problem had developed within the Met which was allowing racist, sexist and homophobic behaviour to be downplayed or left unchallenged. The interim findings of this review not only confirm my concerns, but reveal a situation even worse than feared.

    It’s clear the Met’s misconduct system is simply not fit for purpose. I now expect nothing less than every single recommendation of this review to be implemented in full, and quickly. All misconduct allegations must be acted upon, cases must be resolved much faster and the disproportionality in the way allegations are dealt with must be eliminated. The majority of those serving in the Met will be appalled by these latest findings and the decent officers who want to speak out – who have clearly been let down for far too long – must be properly supported.

    As Mayor, I’ve ensured the Met is now set on a path of far-reaching systematic and cultural reform, with the appointment of a new Commissioner who acknowledges the scale of the problems within the Met. I want to assure Londoners that I will continue to hold the Met to account as I support Sir Mark in taking urgent action to reform the culture and systems of the Met and to root out all police officers found to be responsible for sexism, racism, misogyny, homophobia, bullying or harassment.

  • Jeremy Quin – 2022 Statement on the Casey Review

    Jeremy Quin – 2022 Statement on the Casey Review

    The statement made by Jeremy Quin, the Minister of State at the Home Office on 18 October 2022.

    In September we saw the very best of British policing, in the planning, handling and delivery of the operation following the death of Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. It showed that, at the top of its game, British policing is world-class and I commend all of the thousands of officers and staff who made that happen. But in recent years there have been several high-profile failings. These failings substantially diminished public trust in the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), and undermine the incredible work of the overwhelming majority of decent, hard-working, and professional, frontline police officers.

    The Metropolitan Police Service commissioned a review by Baroness Louise Casey into the culture and standards of the Metropolitan Police Service. Interim findings have now been reported to the MPS and are highly concerning. They set out a failure of the MPS to operate within the existing misconduct framework, and failures to adequately tackle instances of sexual misconduct and discrimination.

    The impetus and action to deliver change must come from within the MPS first and foremost—and the Government welcome Sir Mark Rowley’s determination to take a systematic approach to act on the findings through both robust enforcement and long-term prevention. Where there is a role for Government to support this, we will not hesitate to act. That is why I am announcing an internal review into the process of police dismissals to raise standards and confidence in policing across England and Wales.

    The Government will work closely with key policing stakeholders to examine evidence of the effectiveness of the system to remove those who are not fit to serve the public. As well as examining the overall effectiveness of dismissal arrangements, I expect the review to consider:

    the impact of the introduction of legally qualified chairs to decide misconduct cases;

    whether decisions made by misconduct panels are consistent across all 43 forces in England and Wales;

    and whether forces are making effective use of their powers to dismiss officers on probation.

    This focused review will be launched shortly and will be conducted swiftly. It will focus on key issues and will support those in policing who act with utmost professionalism, giving them confidence that their hard work and commitment will not be undone by those who bring their profession into disrepute.

  • Suella Braverman – 2022 Statement on Standards in Policing

    Suella Braverman – 2022 Statement on Standards in Policing

    The statement made by Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, on 17 October 2022.

    The public rightly expects the highest standards of behaviour from police officers and the vast majority meet this expectation.

    But recently too many high-profile incidents and reports, especially in London, have damaged trust.

    This cannot continue.

    It’s unfair on the public and lets down other serving officers.

    Culture and standards in the police must improve.

    And where an officer has fallen seriously short of these expectations, demonstrable, public action must be taken.

    It’s absolutely vital that the police act to restore trust, return to common sense policing and treat the public and victims with the respect they deserve.

    I welcome the Met Police’s commitment to tackling the issues raised in the Baroness Casey report and hope this review will also help to address underlying concerns.

  • Brandon Lewis – 2022 Statement on Criminal Legal Aid

    Brandon Lewis – 2022 Statement on Criminal Legal Aid

    The statement made by Brandon Lewis, the Secretary of State for Justice, in the House of Commons on 12 October 2022.

    Since I became Lord Chancellor, I have been keen to resolve the dispute with the Criminal Bar Association, in order get the criminal justice system working again. To that end, my officials and I have been holding constructive discussions on a package of proposals with the Bar Council and the CBA. This package was agreed as part of our overall response to the criminal legal aid independent review consultation.

    I am pleased to announce that the CBA membership has now voted in favour of my offer on criminal legal aid, and has agreed to come back to work.

    As a result, my Department laid a statutory instrument on 11 October which will mean the recent fee uplift for new cases claimable by litigators and advocates will also now apply to the vast majority of existing cases in the backlog where the main hearing takes place after the commencement of the instrument on 31 October 2022. This equates to an additional investment of £28 million in the fee scheme for advocates and £14 million in the fee scheme for litigators over the spending review period.

    My Department will also make an additional £3 million of funding available for case preparation, such as written work and special preparation, as well as a further £4 million for defence barristers involved in pre-recorded cross-examinations, which are used to reduce the trauma of a trial for vulnerable victims and witnesses by early 2023.

    The Ministry of Justice is proposing a further £5 million uplift per year for fees in the youth court, from the 2024-25 financial year, which is expected to particularly benefit both solicitors and some junior barristers.

    A new criminal legal aid advisory board on criminal legal aid reform will also be created and hold its first meeting in October. This board will discuss the operation of the criminal legal aid system and make recommendations to the Lord Chancellor.

    In addition to this, the Government will respond to the remaining elements of the above consultation by the end of November, including further reforms directed at solicitors. As was made clear by Lord Bellamy in his review, the profession of criminal legal aid solicitors requires immediate attention, and I am keen to work to provide further reforms and support.

    I look forward to working constructively with criminal legal aid practitioners on criminal justice issues, including working to drive down court backlogs and resolve cases sooner.

    After all, we share the same aim: putting the criminal justice system on a more sustainable footing for the future, to support victims and everyone who relies on our justice system.

  • Brandon Lewis – 2022 Statement on Transgender Prisoners

    Brandon Lewis – 2022 Statement on Transgender Prisoners

    The statement made by Brandon Lewis, the Secretary of State for Justice, in the House of Commons on 11 October 2022.

    On 4 October, I announced reforms to our policy for the allocation of transgender prisoners. Under the reforms, transgender prisoners with male genitalia should no longer be held in the general women’s estate. This will not be a blanket rule; exemptions to these new rules will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

    This will also apply to transgender women who have been convicted of a sex offence.

    Further detail about these reforms will be announced when we publish our updated transgender prisoners policy framework before the end of the year.

  • Brandon Lewis – 2022 Statement on Electronic Monitoring of Criminals

    Brandon Lewis – 2022 Statement on Electronic Monitoring of Criminals

    The statement made by Brandon Lewis, the Secretary of State for Justice, in the House of Commons on 11 October 2022.

    We set out in our beating crime plan how we will improve public protection and increase public confidence in the justice system. We are determined to empower the police and probation to keep us safe; through providing them with the technology and resources they need, we will crack down on the repeat offenders who are blighting our neighbourhoods.

    Since April 2021 our acquisitive crime project has been using GPS electronic location monitoring to track the movements of burglars, robbers and thieves released on licence and serving a standard determinate sentence of 12 months or more across 19 police force areas. I have now laid a statutory instrument to expand this world-first project to include offenders serving shorter sentences of 90 days or more. This will come into force on 26 October.

    Electronic monitoring will be a compulsory condition on the offender’s licence for the remainder of their sentence up to a maximum of 12 months, other than in exceptional circumstances where probation assess that an offender’s health or personal situation make the use of a tag inappropriate.

    Through this measure we aim to deter further offending and reduce crime; expanding the project to offenders serving shorter sentences will increase the number of offenders captured by the legislation by around 2,000 by March 2025.

    This expansion will be subject to robust evaluation, including of impact on reoffending and cost-effectiveness. The evaluation will be conducted by the Ministry of Justice data and analysis directorate; the final evaluation conclusions report will be peer reviewed by independent academics before publication. It will allow us to better assess the most effective period for electronic monitoring of acquisitive offenders, helping to identify what is necessary and proportionate use and therefore influencing future decisions on how electronic monitoring can be used to reduce reoffending.

    The location monitoring data is used to support the work of probation and the police. Using “crime mapping” technology we overlay police acquisitive crime data with tagging data to identify if any tagged offenders were in the vicinity of a given crime, to better equip the police to investigate offences, apprehend or rule out suspects and to support prosecutions. Alongside this, probation practitioners are provided with summaries of an offender’s movements and compliance behaviour and, to further enhance supervision, they can investigate an offender’s movements in closer detail using a self-service portal.

    Throughout this joint endeavour between the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office, feedback from policing and probation has been positive, and expansion is supported by them.

    A copy of this statement has also been laid in the House of Lords by my colleague, the Lord Bellamy.

  • Suella Braverman – 2022 Comments on Just Stop Oil Stopping Emergency Vehicles

    Suella Braverman – 2022 Comments on Just Stop Oil Stopping Emergency Vehicles

    The comments made by Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, on Twitter on 11 October 2022.

    Blocking ambulances and fire engines and putting lives in danger is completely indefensible.

    I thank the Met Police who have arrested over 300 disruptive protesters from this self-defeating organisation so far this month.

    I expect the police to use the full powers we have given them to stop those who are hell bent on disrupting everyone’s lives.

    Our Public Order Bill will strengthen these powers further and toughen the penalties for guerrilla tactics.