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Category: Criminal Justice

  • Michael Ellis – 2021 Comments on Sentences Being Increased

    Michael Ellis – 2021 Comments on Sentences Being Increased

    The comments made by Michael Ellis, the Attorney General, on 26 August 2021.

    The ULS scheme allows anyone, including victims of crime, to ask for a review of certain sentences they believe are too low. In 2020, this meant that over 60 criminals had their sentences increased and many more victims and their families had a second chance at justice.

    In the vast majority of cases judges get it right, but the scheme remains an important tool to ensure that cases can be reviewed where there may have been a gross error in the sentencing decision. It’s not just about increasing sentences, the scheme also provides an important avenue for my office to ask the Court of Appeal for guidance, to help shape the sentencing framework and ensure more consistent sentencing for complex cases.

  • Andy Burnham – 2021 Statement on Greater Manchester Police

    Andy Burnham – 2021 Statement on Greater Manchester Police

    The statement made by Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, on 29 July 2021.

    We had planned, at today’s meeting of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, to hear from our new Chief Constable on his improvement plans for GMP.

    Alongside that, I was planning to provide more detail about how we intend to take the force into a new era of greater openness and strengthened accountability.

    Following the cancellation of today’s meeting, I thought it was important to set out these next steps in a written update.

    The Chief Constable will now attend a meeting of the GMCA on 10 September. On the same day, his forward plan for GMP will be published together with the full analysis provided by PwC.

    We will aim to publish the independent review into Child Sexual Exploitation in Oldham by November or, at the very latest, by the end of the year.

    We will publish the independent review into CSE in Rochdale early in the New Year, with the aim of February.

    We will hold our first Greater Manchester Police Public Accountability Meeting for elected members across GM in Oldham on 26 November. The event will be live-streamed and will follow the meeting of the GMCA. Details of how elected members can apply to attend will be issued shortly. From now on, there will be two public accountability meetings every year.

    These steps towards more transparency and accountability build on the publication earlier this week of the first Achieving Race Equality report, which from now on will be updated quarterly, and the introduction in January of a named and contactable police officer and PCSO for every ward in Greater Manchester.

  • Sarah Jones – 2021 Comments on Police Numbers

    Sarah Jones – 2021 Comments on Police Numbers

    The comments made by Sarah Jones, the Shadow Minister for Policing and the Fire Service, on 29 July 2021.

    The Tories have spent a decade cutting our police workforce, leaving communities across the country exposed.

    These figures expose the decimation the Tories have caused community policing. While cuts to police staff mean that even new police recruits will end up behind desks backfilling staff roles, instead of on the beat.

    The Government’s new crime plan is in reality a bunch of rehashed policies designed to distract from the damage they have caused. When coupled with an insulting police pay freeze and failure to consult them on the crime plan, it’s no wonder frontline police have lost confidence in the Home Secretary.

  • Anna McMorrin – 2021 Comments on Youth Custody and Reoffending

    Anna McMorrin – 2021 Comments on Youth Custody and Reoffending

    The comments made by Anna McMorrin, the Shadow Minister for Victims and Youth Justice, on 29 July 2021.

    The Conservatives have completely lost control of youth custody, resulting in shocking welfare and rehabilitation for children, as well as a failure to protect the public from crime and reoffending.

    Youth reoffending rates remain unacceptable, well above adult figures, while incidences of self-harm and assault are disproportionately high compared to the number of children in custody.

    Labour is calling for an independent review to tackle the disastrous deterioration in youth custody. Ministers must heed our calls and swiftly get a grip.

  • Boris Johnson – 2021 Comments on Beating Crime Plan

    Boris Johnson – 2021 Comments on Beating Crime Plan

    The comments made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 27 July 2021.

    When I first stood on the steps of Downing Street as Prime Minister, I promised to back the police and make people safer, because we cannot level up the country when crime hits the poorest hardest and draws the most vulnerable into violence.

    That is why my government has remained unstinting in its efforts to protect the British public and this plan delivers a fresh commitment, as we emerge from the impacts of the pandemic, to have less crime, fewer victims and a safer society.

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2021 Comments on Police Pay Settlement

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2021 Comments on Police Pay Settlement

    The comments made by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Shadow Home Secretary, on 23 July 2021.

    The pressure is now overwhelming for the Home Secretary to listen and change course on the disastrous and insulting decision to award our police with a zero percent pay award.

    If the Home Secretary would show even a fraction of the bravery we see from so many police officers, she would stand up for them around the Cabinet table and secure a fair pay deal. Yet instead we see a Conservative Government that has let down our police and lost their confidence.

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2021 Comments on Anti-Social Behaviour

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2021 Comments on Anti-Social Behaviour

    The comments made by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Shadow Home Secretary, on 22 July 2021.

    Anti-social behaviour can make people’s lives a misery so these staggering increases are completely unacceptable. Sadly it’s little wonder, given the damage Conservative government cuts have done to community policing, whilst also scrapping huge numbers of youth clubs.“Even in the face of these terrible figures, Ministers continue with the wrong priorities, wasting millions on a pointless yacht, when they should listen to Labour and plough that money into taking action against anti-social behaviour.

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2021 Comments on Police Federation Statement

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2021 Comments on Police Federation Statement

    The comments made by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Shadow Home Secretary, on 22 July 2021.

    This is a devastating blow for a hapless Home Secretary.

    The truth is, Priti Patel has badly let down police officers, who have served our country so bravely throughout this pandemic. A zero percent pay offer is completely unacceptable – it is a real terms pay cut, exposing the hypocrisy of a Conservative Government that gives warm words of praise to the police and refuses to back it up with action.

    This has driven the Police Federation to take the extraordinary step of declaring ‘no confidence’ in the Home Secretary – which is a view Labour fully supports.

  • Conor McGinn – 2021 Comments on ONS Crime Statistics

    Conor McGinn – 2021 Comments on ONS Crime Statistics

    The comments made by Conor McGinn, the Shadow Security Minister, on 22 July 2021.

    Yet more rises in fraud under the Conservatives prove beyond doubt that they have lost control over this appalling crime.

    Fraud can be devastating for victims. It shatters personal finances, it damages our economy, and it’s a real and present threat.

    More Tory delay cannot be an option. We need a comprehensive, joined-up strategy across the Government to finally deal with this growing crime wave, as Labour has long called for.

  • Nick Thomas Symonds – 2021 Comments on Police Federation’s Attack on Priti Patel

    Nick Thomas Symonds – 2021 Comments on Police Federation’s Attack on Priti Patel

    The comments made by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Shadow Home Secretary, on 22 July 2021.

    It is the height of hypocrisy for the Home Secretary to praise the police in public with warm words, but let them down so badly when it comes to meaningful action. So it is no surprise that the Police Federation have taken the extraordinary step of confirming that they have lost confidence in Priti Patel.

    The truth is it is not just on pay where police officers have been let down.

    We also saw the Home Secretary promise action on getting priority access to vaccines for police and failed to deliver, in addition to taking the name of police representatives in vain, by suggesting they had been calling for additional powers to police protests, which was not the case. Little wonder the Conservatives are trying to mark their own homework, by having one of their own Ministers chair the new Police Covenant, this is clearly wrong.

    The Home Secretary’s position is clearly untenable, and the police deserve nothing less than urgent action from the Prime Minister and this government. This must include opening negotiations on a fair police pay rise and work to reconstitute the Police Covenant.