Tag Archives: Reform

Sign the petition for reform of rapist-ridden (?) police

This seems self-explanatory:

The full petition states:

“Cases of abuse of women by police are all too often making headlines. An investigation conducted by Refuge into alleged cases of abuse of women by police-perpetrators, shockingly revealed that, of the total number of cases of officers accused of violence against women and girls (VAWG) between 2022 and 2023, only 24% were suspended while under investigation.

“How can women feel safe coming forward to report abuse when so little is being done to root out abusers from within policing’s own ranks?

“The government must act now to prove that their promise to make violence against women and girls a strategic policing priority is more than just words on paper. We’re demanding they take action to root out every ‘bad apple’ effectively and swiftly to restore public confidence in policing.”

It states: “How many more bad apples? Together we’re calling on the Home Secretary to enforce mandatory suspension of all potential abusers, until and only if, they’re cleared following investigation.”

And the petition reads: “To: The Home Secretary

“Please implement a consistent suspension policy across police forces in England and Wales, where all police officers and staff accused of violence against women and girls are suspended pending the outcome of an investigation.”

This Writer is thinking of recent cases in the Metropolitan Police, in particular, and of the finding that the culture in that particular service means that rape is no longer treated as a crime in its area.

So I’ve signed the petition. Will you?

Tory MP Lee Anderson claims he was ‘guaranteed’ job to defect | BBC News

Lee Anderson with his best buddy Boris: the Tory party has changed a bit since BoJob was in charge but apparently the Leeanderthal isn’t keen to move on to a more Conservative organisation.

He should have taken the deal.

That’s if the Leeanderthal was telling the truth, of course.

Conservative Party deputy chairman Lee Anderson claims he was offered a financial incentive to defect to another party.

Mr Anderson alleges he was offered a job worth the equivalent of five years of an MP’s salary in the event he switched but failed to win re-election.

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Senior Conservative sources say Mr Anderson told them he had been approached by Reform UK.

Its leader Richard Tice has denied he offered any MP any money.


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Labour MP ‘vindicated’ for calling Boris Johnson a liar. Shame her party didn’t support her then or now

Dawn Butler: vindicated.

After the Commons Privileges Committee published its report on Partygate, saying Boris Johnson is a liar, I sent this tweet to Dawn Butler, Labour MP for Brent Central:

She didn’t answer – at least, not directly. She didn’t have to.

The following day, an article by Ms Butler appeared in Metro – exhaustively detailing her feelings about having been thrown off the Parliamentary estate in 2021 and her thoughts about the situation now.

She reckons the system is broken because there is no way to highlight wrongdoing by people in the highest offices in the UK without being penalised for it – and she wants change.

But she admits she isn’t likely to get it, because a corrupt House of Commons wants to keep its corrupt system. Or at least, that’s how it seems to This Writer.

Ms Butler stated:

I feel vindicated.

But I am also more adamant than ever that the system must change.

When I first labelled Boris Johnson a liar, I was ridiculed by Tory MPs, criticised by sections of the press and received a barrage of hateful messages online.

Perhaps worst of all, I felt unsupported by many in my own party.

What kept me going in those dark days was the masses of positive messages I received from the public, outweighing the abuse. So many people wanted to thank me, saying how refreshing it was to see someone call out the lies.

And now that a committee of MPs has made a ruling on Boris Johnson’s cavalier approach to the truth, I’m more glad than ever that I made that stand.

But she said changing the system is uphill work:

We need the system to be strengthened and mechanisms put in place to ensure that Prime Ministers like Johnson are tackled early on, to minimise damage to our democracy. We cannot go through this again.

Because it could happen again. His casual approach to the truth, after all, paid off for him until now. He held the highest office in the land and has been making millions since.

And we must ensure that when they have broken the rules, they cannot run away from accountability.

The most frustrating element for me is the fact that the Prime Minister is the ultimate arbiter of the ministerial code. When Johnson was PM, he was the judge and jury over whether he or any of his ministers had broken said code – as evidenced when he overruled his own ethics adviser to decide that then Home Secretary Priti Patel could stay in a job.

In 2021, I tabled an Early Day Motion 383 stating that trust in the code had been eroded, and that breaches should be investigated by the House as a whole rather than the Prime Minister. To date, I’ve received an impressive 105 signatures.

So just 106 out of 650 MPs believe the current corrupt system – that allowed Boris Johnson to lie repeatedly to the nation and ensure that his cronies kept the top governmental jobs, no matter how badly they misbehaved – should change.

It seems to This Writer that the problem isn’t just Boris Johnson but also most of the other MPs infesting the House of Commons – including those members of Ms Butler’s own party who did not support her when she was victimised for telling the truth and do not support her call for reform now.

Source: I was demonised for calling Boris Johnson a liar – I feel vindicated | UK News | Metro News


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Is anybody daft enough to believe Keir Starmer’s Labour will reform the police

Keir Starmer: would you really trust this poster boy for the Establishment to remove the corruption from the police?

Keir Starmer has been bandwagon-jumping again.

He’s saying the Metropolitan Police has been a basket case for 13 years under the Tory government and the racism, sexism and homophobia that Baroness Casey uncovered  has shattered the trust of the people of London – and the rest of the UK:

“The racist, sexist and homophobic abuses of power that have run rife in the Metropolitan Police have shattered the trust that Britain’s policing relies on and let victims down.

“For 13 years there has been a void of leadership from the Home Office, which has seen Britain’s policing fall far below the standards the public have the right to expect.

“The scale of change required is vast. But the lessons I witnessed from policing reform in Northern Ireland show that it can be done.

“With my leadership, a Labour government will take responsibility, overhaul policing and raise standards, with strengthened training and mandatory vetting, and the restoration of neighbourhood policing with the trust of communities.

“The Home Secretary must reassure the public that she will do what it takes to address these failings immediately.”

That’s a pretty far cry from what he was saying only 18 months ago – and people are calling him out on it [apologies for the repetition of Starmer’s tweet]:

In fairness, he did try to answer this question at a press conference yesterday (March 21) – but his answer rang hollow:

He retrospectively modified what he said 18 months ago to make it seem that he wanted her to tackle all the faults that have been exposed now. This was impossible because they were not officially recognised at the time.

People have seen this and responded accordingly:

Many more people have criticised him for the hypocrisy of supporting Cressida Dick and then claiming policing standards fell through the floor on her watch (and others’).

Personally, I wouldn’t trust Keir Starmer to reform the police. His own record speaks against him.


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Why is the Transport Secretary trying to force ‘reforms’ on unions that want better pay?

Mick Lynch: he’s frustrated because the rail companies and Network Rail say they don’t have the power to negotiate meaningfully with him over pay and safety conditions for RMT Union members.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper reckons rail unions need to accept “reforms” that would free up money for pay rises.

Why?

On the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show, he said: “It is the reforms that free up the savings that then unlock the ability for the companies to make an offer to the trade unions on pay.”

But that is to assume no more money could be brought in – and that is a political choice by the Tory government.

He also said: “I do not have a bottomless pit of taxpayers’ money to throw at this problem.”

And he doesn’t, because taxpayers’ money doesn’t pay for any public services at all. Public money – created by the government – does. It’s time our politicians stopped trying to hoodwink us with this lazy lie.

The government can very easily create as much money as is needed to provide a “proper seven-day rail network” – also Harper’s words, and why doesn’t the UK have that network any more since privatisation anyway?

Taxation relieves inflationary pressures that may be created by investing money into public services – and may be used by progressive governments to re-balance the gap between the richest and the poorest citizens in the country, by taking money from those who can most easily bear it. Of course the UK’s Tory government is as far from progressive as one can get.

And Harper said any money saved through reforms would have to be split “fairly between the taxpayer and the people who work in the industry”. Why give savings back to taxpayers when so much needs to be done to improve the rail service? Is he looking for another tax cut for the rich?

The whole spiel strikes This Writer as self-serving claptrap.

If Harper really wanted to do some good, wouldn’t it be better for him to offer to give the private rail operators and Network Rail the mandate for meaningful negotiations with the RMT union that its general secretary, Mick Lynch, has been told they don’t have?

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Renters ‘Refund’ Bill: there has to be a catch. Can anybody see what it is?

Rent: are the Tories really going to reverse the hated changes imposed by Margaret Thatcher, that made tenants practically powerless to stop landlords walking all over them?

The instant This Writer saw that the Conservative government is planning to allow tenants to reclaim their rent from “dodgy” landlords, I questioned it.

There has to be a catch, right? This is the Tory Party – the party that puts landlords over tenants and would return us to Rackmanism and rack-renting at the flip of a coin.

Maybe Michael Gove is trying to make himself look good ahead of the now-inevitable Conservative leadership contest…

Whatever the reasons, I remain staggered to be able to relay to you a decent policy from the Conservative government:

Tenants will be given new powers to claim refunds on their rent from landlords if their homes fall below standard in the biggest shake-up of the private rented sector since the 1990s.

The Government published it’s long-awaited ‘Fairer Private Rented Sector’ White Paper with reforms which are set to be brought into law under the Renters Reform Bill.

If they become law, experts say the White Paper’s proposals will directly improve the lives of millions of people and become the most radical thing to happen to the private rented sector since Thatcher’s deregulation and the introduction of Buy to Let mortgages in the early 1990s.

Measures include:

Abolishing “no fault” Section 21 evictions: S.21 allows a landlord to evict their tenant with just two months’ notice without having to give them a reason. In recent years this sort of eviction has become a leading cause of homelessness and there have been reports of renters being evicted when they ask for basic repairs.

Overhauling tenancy agreements: The Government is proposing a shift from assured shorthold tenancy agreements (ASTs) that generally run for six or 12 months to open-ended tenancies.

No more rent hike clauses: The Government wants to end arbitrary rent review clauses which allow landlords to hike up rents without justifying them.

Improving basic standards of rented homes: According to the government, 21 per cent of private renters are living in “unfit” homes which means they are damp, mouldy and contain electrical hazards. The White paper proposes to make the Decent Homes standard law in the private rented sector, which means homes must be free from serious health and safety hazards, and landlords must keep homes in a good state of repair, so renters have clean, appropriate and useable facilities. But how will cash-strapped local authorities enforce this?

New housing ombudsman to make landlords accountable: the aim is to enable disputes between private renters and landlords to be settled quickly, at low cost, and without going to court, with powers to compel landlords to issue an apology, take remedial action, and/or pay compensation of up to £25,000 in the form of refunds on rent.

Ban on landlords refusing to rent to benefit claimants: Landlords are not supposed to discriminate against people receiving benefits (known as No DSS) or families but they do. The white paper promises to make it illegal for landlords or agents to have blanket bans on renting to these people.

The right to keep pets: Private renters the right to have a pet and say that landlords cannot “unreasonably deny” them this.

The big irony of all these reforms is that landlords (or alleged landlords) like Philip Davies and Christopher Chope have filibustered (talked out) attempts at rent reform in Private Members’ Bills – but will probably support this.

Source: Renters Reform Bill: Tenants’ rent to be refunded by dodgy landlords as Michael Gove reverses Thatcher reforms

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Let’s not accuse Gove of Housing corruption prematurely

Michael Gove: he has taken a lot of money from property developers and now he is Housing Secretary. But we should not shout “corruption” until there is actual evidence of it.

This Site is all in favour of accusing Tory ministers of corruption when they do something wrong.

But we need to give them a chance to actually commit an offence before we start criticising them.

Michael Gove is a deeply dodgy character for many reasons – some of which have been discussed in detail on This Site.

And it is true that in the run-up to the announcement that he would become the new Housing Secretary in Boris Johnson’s Cabinet reshuffle, he took £120,000 in donations from property developers. That amounts to 87 per cent of the donations he has taken in 2021 so far.

Some people have claimed that this creates a conflict of interest, and it certainly does make it possible.

However:

Gove’s first act in his new job has been to suspend work on controversial planning reforms that were accused of giving “too much power to developers”.

Try as I might, I can’t fit that into any narrative that puts him at their beck and call.

Of course, suspension is not rejection, and if he reinstates the scheme, or comes up with one that offers more opportunities for the businesspeople to make cash, then he will deserve all the brickbats we can throw at him.

So let’s reserve judgement for now.

And hope that Gove gets the message.

It is this: we’re watching you, Michael.

Source: Michael Gove: UK Housing Secretary Took £120k From Property Developers

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Iain Duncan Smith is to give his ignorance to post-Brexit government reform

The pick of the Tories: Iain Duncan Smith is a creature of odious habits and even worse politics.

The former Tory leader whose ‘reforms’ of social security have led to the deaths of thousands upon thousands of people has been appointed to lend his ignorance to the government again.

Iain Duncan Smith will chair the new Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform.

The title of the organisation creates the acronym TIGRR – tiger, get it? But Duncan Smith is no kind of tiger. As benefit claimants know from his time as Work and Pensions Secretary, he’s a little bitch.

This Site has its own acronym for him – RTU. It stands for “Returned To Unit”, the message of shame on the record of armed forces personnel who fail training for promotion up the officers’ ranks – as he is said to have done.

The government has claimed that the TIGRR will “identify and develop proposals across a range of areas that will drive innovation and competitiveness, reduce barriers to start-ups and scale-ups, create opportunities for innovation to make the most of cutting-edge technologies, and support growth and dynamism right across the UK economy”.

But with RTU at the helm it is more likely to reduce competitiveness with new schemes that will be massively expensive while helping nobody (like Universal Credit), create barriers that stop people getting what they need (as he did with all benefits, particularly those for the sick and disabled), and abandon cutting-edge technologies for paper and ink (as DWP workers were forced to do when his plan for Universal Credit to be fully computerised fell on its ass).

He didn’t even help his own government! All his so-called “reforms” created more expense and none of them saved any money at all.

Labour has said it is ready to fight over any reforms that could be harmful – particularly to employment rights.

While This Writer has nothing personal against Andy McDonald, I remember when the party under Ed Miliband, in the dying days of its previous right-wing, neoliberal incarnation, voted in support of RTU to harm benefit claimants and I have a doubt.

The simple fact is that the appointment of this death machine should tell us everything we need to know about what his organisation will do. And it won’t help anybody.

Source: Iain Duncan Smith appointed post-Brexit government adviser | The New European

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The Tories promised to reform benefits long ago so why do 10 terminally ill people die every day, waiting for their first payment?

Christine McCluskey: when she died, after your Tory government cut her benefits, she weighed just three stone.

The life expectancy of people with terminal illnesses has plummeted because they are being denied end-of-life state benefits.

The system is supposed to support people who are expected to live less than six months – but doesn’t.

The Tories demand that doctors provide a note predicting when their patient is likely to die.

But many physicians have been reluctant to make such predictions, or feared their patients’ health could deteriorate more rapidly if they learned they were not expected to survive very long.

The Tory government of the day promised to change the system in 2019, saying it would bring in modifications that would make it easier for people with terminal illnesses to claim their due.

And nothing has happened.

DWP minister Justin Tomlinson has apologised for the delay – which is a fat lot of good for people who could starve to death before their health condition kills them.

He blamed the delay on the Covid-19 crisis – and warned that it is likely to run on for many more months yet.

Let’s just remember what this means:

The image at the top of this article depicts Christine McCluskey, who died in a humiliating way, weighing just three stone, after Tomlinson’s department wrongly ended her benefit claim.

The 61-year-old grandmother had suffered long-term health problems most of her adult life including Crohn’s disease – which left her with a colostomy bag – osteoporosis, arthritis, a stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

This housebound lady had a feeding tube and a painful fistula that leaked through her abdominal wall, she was severely malnourished and was being investigated for a worrying cough at the time the Department for Work and Pensions assessed her for Personal Independence Payment.

The decision: her payments of £117.85 per week were removed and her mobility car was taken away from her.

Weeks later she was diagnosed with terminal cancer but her payments were not restored. She died four months after her benefits were stopped, weighing just three stone.

She was unable to receive fast-track access to PIP that is available for people with terminal illnesses who have less than six months to live, because she was unable to show when she was likely to die.

Recent estimates obtained by Labour MP Jessica Morden have revealed that 7,260 people died as they were waiting for a verdict on their claim for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), or 10 people per day.

Yes, these people were going to die soon anyway.

But the manner of their death tells us whether the United Kingdom under the Conservatives is a civilised country or primitive and barbaric.

And the UK under the Conservatives clearly falls into the latter category: primitive and barbaric.

Source: DWP shamed as 10 terminally ill people die every day waiting on a benefits decision | Welfare Journal

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Johnson government admits Cameron’s NHS ‘reforms’ were wrong. But what will replace them?

Andrew Lansley spent years planning ways to take healthcare away from people who need it, and David Cameron allowed him to put those plans into practise. But is Boris Johnson really going to put a stop to the damage?

Isn’t it nice to know that the current Conservative government has admitted the austerity administration of David Cameron was wrong to impose privatisation on the NHS!

Except… is that really what Johnson – and his minister for death, Matt Hancock, are saying?

Here’s what the BBC story tells us:

The changes would aim to tackle bureaucracy and encourage health services from hospitals to GP surgeries and social care to work more closely.

The draft policy paper also says the health secretary would take more direct control over NHS England.

Instead of a system that requires competitive tendering for contracts – sometimes involving private companies, the NHS and local authorities will be left to run services and told to collaborate with each other, says the draft White Paper, designed to set out proposed legislation.

It doesn’t say private companies will no longer be allowed to take NHS contracts; nor does it say that the billions of pounds worth of NHS contracts that were awarded to private companies will revert back to the public sector.

In fact, it says

‘there will continue to be an important role for voluntary and independent sector providers’.

It just doesn’t say what that role will be.

And that should make us all nervous.

One of the reasons given for the need to change is that

the Covid pandemic “demonstrated plainly that this broader approach to health and care is not only desirable, but essential”.

But we know that the Covid pandemic has been a catastrophe for private-sector health firms.

Private contractors failed to provide vital ventilators and PPE (personal protective equipment) when they were needed.

The privatised test-and-trace system has done nothing but haemorrhage money; it has been worse than useless in preventing the spread of Covid-19.

And of course the Tory government itself abused the emergency system for awarding contracts, giving them to organisations run by party donors or with links to ministers rather than to those that could actually carry out the work.

To This Writer, it suggests that the private sector is irresponsible and should be removed from the provision of public health care, in all our best interests, as soon as possible.

But that is not what is being suggested.

Until we find out exactly what Johnson and Hancock are proposing, it seems much too early to get out the bunting and celebrate the salvation of the NHS.

Source: NHS: Government plans to reverse Cameron-era reforms – BBC News

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