Tag: Nick Thomas-Symonds

The comments made by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Shadow Home Secretary, on 20 October 2021.

The reports of this vile act are terrifying – and yet another example of the appalling violence faced by women and girls, day in day out.

This awful crime needs to be clamped down on without delay. That must involve bringing together the police, venues, universities and – crucially – listening to women who have been attacked. The Home Secretary should deliver action without delay, to help prevent this happening again, bring those responsible justice and ensure they face the full force of the law.

The comments made by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Shadow Home Secretary, on 12 October 2021.

The huge spike in recorded hate crimes in these statistics must be a wake-up call for urgent change.

It’s unacceptable that so many people are facing abuse and attacks just for being themselves. The shamefully small number of offenders being brought to justice shows how damaging Tory police cuts have been, allowing vile criminals to escape justice yet again.

The backlash against people standing up to racial injustice shows how far we have to go as a country to defeat hatred. Labour has a plan for a new Race Equality Act to bring about the change needed, whilst Conservative Ministers are failing to act.

The comments made by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Shadow Home Secretary, on 14 September 2021.

This announcement is yet further evidence that our police have no confidence in this Government or the Home Secretary.

The Government – shamefully – has pushed through a real terms pay cut which is insulting to our brave police who have gone above and beyond during the pandemic. The system needs to be fair and transparent.

Now that the Police Superintendents Association has joined the Police Federation in withdrawing from the pay-review body, the Home Secretary must – urgently – address how it can be reformed so police have confidence in a system that works for them.

The comments made by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Shadow Home Secretary, on 10 September 2021.

Labour looks forward to continuing to work with the Commissioner on reducing serious violence, disproportionality in our criminal justice system and ensuring we have police on our streets keeping the people of London safe.

The Metropolitan Police must always work to increase trust and confidence in every community, and ensure that lessons are learned from the injustices of the past.

The comments made by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Shadow Home Secretary, on 3 September 2021.

Under the Conservatives we have seen anti-social behaviour rocket recently and serious concerns about people openly dealing drugs, clamping down on this must be a priority.

It is right that the Independent Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs assesses the concerning use of nitrous oxide, to assess the harm this causes and considers different options. However, this will not be an answer to the terrible impact Conservative cuts to policing have caused.

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.

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.

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.

The comments made by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Shadow Home Secretary, on 14 July 2021.

The long awaited Online Harms Bill has been continuously promoted as a way to solve this problem by the Government but, not only do delays mean it is unlikely to come into force before 2024, but the current bill would not stop this vile abuse.

The racist abuse on social-media faced by our England players is unacceptable, social-media companies need the toughest of sanctions to do more to take down this awful material.

The time for change is now, more delays will only prolong the abuse that takes place on social media. This must be a priority for the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary.

The comments made by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Shadow Home Secretary, on 9 July 2021.

Taxpayers will be appalled at having to pick up the Bill for the Home Secretary’s unacceptable behaviour with £370,000 having been used to settle the case – this money could have been used on extra police officers, or tackling anti-social behaviour.

It was wrong that when Priti Patel broke the Ministerial Code, it was the Prime Minister’s independent adviser who resigned.

As usual with this Government it is one rule for them, another for everyone else.