The comments made by David Lammy, the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, on 7 December 2020.
It is bonkers that the Government is prioritising launching an attack on human rights in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.
Unlike the Conservatives, Labour is proud of this country’s leading role in developing human rights following the second world war.
There is no need for a review into the rights and freedoms that underpin our democracy and all of us enjoy.
The comments made by David Lammy, the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, on 9 October 2020.
The sudden jump in coronavirus cases in prisons is very concerning and should act as a warning against complacency in the Ministry of Justice.
We know from explosions of coronavirus cases among prison populations in other countries that prisons can be ticking time bombs in this pandemic. Major outbreaks in prisons will not only cause unnecessary deaths of prisoners and staff, they can overwhelm local hospitals and spread the virus outside of their walls.
To prevent the virus from getting out of control in prisons, Ministers need to do more to meet their target headroom across the prison estate of 5,500, as outlined by Public Health England and HMPPS. Alongside this, the government needs to urgently fix coronavirus testing and tracing across the population as a whole.
The comments made by David Lammy, the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, on 6 October 2020.
G4S’s past performance illustrates the failings of privatisation in the justice system. Its well-publicised failure to manage HMP Birmingham led to reports of violence, unsanitary conditions, drink, drugs, and the bullying of staff.
Serious questions must be asked about why the government has handed the contract for the new prison in Wellingborough to G4S.
To deliver justice and keep the country safe, prisons must be well-run, disciplined environments that punish offenders while enabling them to rehabilitate.
The comments made by David Lammy, the Shadow Justice Secretary, on 16 September 2020.
It is totally hypocritical for Boris Johnson to play tough on law and order in the same week that he ordered his MPs to vote to break the law.
The Conservatives’ rhetoric on crime never lives up to the reality. Under this government we have the lowest charging rate for reported crimes since records began.
Labour will scrutinise this proposed legislation on sentencing closely. Our priority is to keep the British public safe.
The comments made by David Lammy, the Shadow Justice Secretary, on 13 September 2020.
Labour is proud of our country’s role in developing human rights at home and abroad.
Instead of giving unattributed briefings designed to distract the government should focus on getting a Brexit deal and defeating the virus.
Any attempt to abandon human rights would make life in Britain less secure and hold our country back on the world stage.
The comments made by David Lammy, the Shadow Justice Secretary, on 5 August 2020.
The Tories’ disastrous sell-off of courts in England and Wales has created a situation where dangerous offenders could now be released onto the streets.
This could threaten public safety as well as being another insult to the generation of victims who are being denied justice by endless delays.
Tory vandalism has created chaos and permanently damaged the justice system. It’s unbelievable that the Government plans to close further courts.
The Government must stop dithering over its roll out of Nightingale Courts. We urgently need more capacity to deal with the immediate crisis. The Conservatives must also promise to make no new plans to close more courts while in government.
Comments made by David Lammy, the Shadow Justice Secretary, on 30 July 2020.
The fact that we are witnessing record levels of self-harm in our prisons is deeply alarming. It comes following 10 years of cuts that have left prisons overcrowded and understaffed.
These statistics show the massive scale of this problem even before emergency lockdown measures were introduced to the prison estate. With prisoners isolated in their cells for 23 hours per day during the pandemic, the number that are self-harming may have further increased.
It is vital that prisoners get access to the mental health support they need, which will also help them rehabilitate.
The text of the comments made by David Lammy, the Shadow Justice Secretary, on 19 July 2020.
The government clearly does not recognise the scale of the crisis in our justice system.
The backlog in criminal cases was in the tens of thousands before the pandemic began, Coronavirus has only made an existing problem worse. The fact that several of the new ‘Nightingale’ courts are former courts which the government closed down exposes the cost of ten years of cuts to the justice system.
The government must do much more to ensure victims of crime are no longer denied justice because of delay.
The text of the comments made by David Lammy, the Shadow Justice Secretary, on 13 July 2020.
Emergency workers put themselves in danger to keep the rest of us safe. It is right that anyone who assaults a firefighter, prison officer, paramedic or police officer should face the full force of the law.
We will look closely at these proposals, but recognising the bravery of emergency workers requires more than just increasing sentences for those that assault them. After a decade of austerity, the Government should promise to end the cuts that have left our emergency services understaffed and overworked even before this crisis began.
Below is the text of the comments made by David Lammy, the Shadow Justice Secretary, on 30 June 2020.
There can be no more dithering or delay when it comes to co-opting empty public buildings to act as temporary courts during the pandemic, as Labour has been telling the government to do for months.
This is a backlog which has been building up long before Covid-19, due to a decade of court closures and cuts. Now the virus has compounded the problem even further, the government must take urgent action.
Justice delayed too long becomes justice denied.