REPORT RIGHT TO CONDEMN EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE ON CHILDREN IN CUSTODY

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Lynne Featherstone MP, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson, responding to an independent investigation into the treatment of children in prison, led by Lord Carlile, said:

“The amount of force being used to restrain children in custody highlighted by this report is unacceptable.

“The training of staff should be urgently reviewed to so that they have the skills which means they do not have to rely on physical restraint to the same degree in the future.

“The report highlights why many children currently in secure accommodation would be better undergoing rehabilitation outside of what all too often amount to colleges of crime.”

MP DEMANDS MORE THAN 'JUST TALK' FROM BT

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Following reports of dozens of people being without phone lines due to a fault, Liberal Democrat MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, Lynne Featherstone has written to the Chief Executive of British Telecom demanding an urgent investigation.

The fault occurred in the early hours of 15th February and appears to have affected a number of businesses and residents in Crouch End, Hornsey and Muswell Hill, leaving customers without telephone connection.

BT’s stock response is that customers should report the fault individually to have the problem fixed and to claim compensation. But this is in spite of the fact that it is apparent that a significant number of people have been affected.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“It is simply not acceptable that BT should have such a ‘can’t do’ approach to paying customers.

“If BT is aware of a widespread fault it should be doing everything in its power to make sure all customers are reconnected as soon as possible and then automatically compensated for the inconvenience caused. Treating people like second class customers is just not on.”

LABOUR COMPLACENCY OVER MISSING ELECTION DOCUMENTS

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Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone is demanding answers from the Government after she uncovered shocking figures showing that the number of constituencies for which key official election documents have been lost doubled at the 2005 general election.

The figures, in response to a written Parliamentary question to the Department for Constitutional Affairs, show that all or part of the marked register for the 2005 general election was lost for 98 constituencies, up from 45 in 2001.

After each general election, local returning officers are required to send in the complete marked register – which shows who has voted and is therefore a crucial safeguard against electoral fraud – to the DCA for safe-keeping. However, not only have large numbers of these documents been lost, but also the DCA has failed to investigate how the losses have occurred or who is responsible for them.

Lynne Featherstone MP said:

“I am appalled that the Government does not appear to give a damn about the fact that Woking’s marked register has gone missing and that 98 others were not complete. Even when I first raised the issue with the Government, their answer to my first written question was incomplete and half-hearted at best.

“We simply don’t know whether these documents are being lost locally, in transit or by the DCA’s contractors responsible for the central storage.Given in particular the recent high-profile concerns over electoral fraud, it is staggering that so many documents are being lost – and so little being done about it.

“The Government’s plans to have these documents stored locally in future (under the Electoral Administration Bill) will make matters even worse if the losses are happening at local level – because they we wouldn’t even have any national figures for the scale of the problem.”

Labour Losing Heart(lands)

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A reporter from the Today program came to The Three Compasses pub in Hornsey High Street (my HQ is upstairs) to interview me last Friday on why Haringey – a key Labour heartland – was now one of the councils reckoned likely to fall to the Liberal Democrats in May. The program aired on Saturday.

Following on from the mega-outstanding win for the LibDems in the Dunfermline by-election (a Labour ‘safe’ seat) and my own massive swing victory here in Hornsey and Wood Green in last May’s General Election, he wanted to understand what was at the root of Labour’s decline in its heartlands?

Where to begin! The most fundamental reason for both what is happening here and for the stunning result in Scotland last week is that Labour have been taking people in their ‘heartlands’ for granted. And there always comes the day when the worm turns – when the people have just had enough.

At the local level, I know when I started asking people in Muswell Hill ward back in ’97 if they had any problems I could help with – they certainly had lots. The streets were dirty, street lights weren’t repaired, no one responded from the council if you reported anything, paving stones were uneven and potholes abounded. Local residents felt that the Labour-run council didn’t care, didn’t listen and that they were simply expected to pay higher and higher Council Tax for less and less service.

I also remember the first – and very dismissive – reply I got from the council to the first batch of casework I sent in after doing a residents’ survey. It basically and briefly said everything I had raised had been sorted, and all was fine. Not having been born yesterday – a rather sceptical colleague and I went to check out the broken pavements, dumped rubbish etc that I had reported. And what did we find – that lots of things that hadn’t been sorted after all! As ever – fine words from the council, just a shame the answer was a brush-off and the truth was rather different. Local residents were sick of it.

Haringey Council was a Labour fiefdom where the administration clearly believed that they ruled by divine right and therefore had no need to heed the residents. So it was easy in a way. When I came along saying I do care about you and your problems and I will fight for your streets to be clean, for your rubbish to be collected properly and for door to door recycling and so on – residents were very responsive. I got things done. And despite many, many attacks on me for being ‘trivial’ and caring about mundane issues – my view has always been and remains that if you can’t keep a street clean – how can you run the country?

Combine that sort of profligate local Labour attitude with the bigger picture – where the war on Iraq began huge disenchantment with Labour nationally – and the goodwill that had heralded New Labour’s new dawn in ’97 began to seep away. All the more so as the assault on our national civil liberties intensified and the authoritarian and controlling nature of New Labour tightened its strictures. The result – people who have trusted Labour for life – who say to me ‘if you cut me I bleed Labour’ – have been forced to sever their lifetime allegiance to the Labour party in favour of Liberal Democrats.

And the arrogance continues – as with the education bill where the Government keeps on saying that it just has to explain its plans better. Heaven forefend that maybe the rest of us do understand the plans – but just don’t agree with them! Much of Labour’s concept of “choice” is a fraud – as with here in Muswell Hill or Crouch End where many children don’t have a local school place, let alone a choice.

So add all that together – and you can see exactly why Labour is losing heart and losing its heartlands.

Securicor and crime

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Early email from colleague to let me know that I appear sixth on Adam Boulton of Sky TV’s list of the ten most fanciable MPs. Flattered – I log onto the website and see who the others are in the list. It is a mixed gender list. How Adam reached his conclusions is a mystery. The comment by my photo brings me down to earth pretty swiftly! I just assume Adam has made a mathematical error! (I wished). Better to be talked about than not talked about – I guess!

I go to Millbank to film a package for a two minute intro to the Politics Show to air on Sunday as a pre-cursor to an interview they are doing with Chris Huhne re LibDem leadership. Dirt has been (attempted to be) dished recently with Michael Crick trying to find fault with Chris’s expenses when he was an MEP (report on Newsnight). It’s interesting that the diggers can come up with so little. The man must be a saint. I heard information too that Labour were looking at his expenses during the leadership election to see whether they could pin anything on him. I guess you know you’re doing a good job when your enemies are so desperate to do you down. You go boy! I knew I was getting there in Hornsey & Wood Green by the number of personal attacks on me by opponents.

I meet with Securicor Group 4 at 11.30am. There’s an interesting conundrum. Their proposition, which they are putting to the Minister (Hazel Blears), myself and the Tory police spokesperson. is to reclassify attacks on Securicor vans. The current situation is that if is when you attack a Securicor van carrying cash it is rated as a business crime – and therefore the attention and response of the police is not as high as for a public crime. Their argument is that they perform a public service – carrying cash to ATMs etc so that we, the public, can get our cash out whenever and virtually wherever we want. They are not allowed to be armed (quite rightly). However, covering the pavement between the highly fortified vehicle and the bank is a hazardous task.

In fact, 72% of all attacks on ‘cash in transit’ in Europe occur in Britain. Other countries have a range of defences, from armed guards to police coverage – and useful planning like the back of vehicles being able to dock directly into the building being delivered to. Coverage of more delivery points by CCTV would be good too.

So they presented their case to Hazel Blears – who I understand is sympathetic. I am sympathetic to a point – but would want partnership working as I don’t think police can be diverted to protect every delivery (for what is still a profit-making – and good luck to them – company). It’s an interesting question as to what the right balance is between them making reasonable efforts to look after themselves and them getting extra help from the police. Think about your own home. We think it’s reasonable for people to take some steps to protect their own property (locking doors, having decent locks etc) but also for the police to respond quickly when needed.

So – certainly worth thinking about reclassifying their status in terms of police response – but first need to know what relationship is to other businesses who might feel they too have this requirement, like banks. Very interested in more CCTV coverage of delivery points – as this might act as powerful deterrent. Though that depends on the CCTV working – unlike most of the CCTV coverage in my own high streets of Muswell Hill and Crouch End. I gather resources (or lack of them) mean that only 1 in 5 of the cameras is in operation. Absolutely bloody useless if they are not in operation and not monitored. That’s the challenge there. Anyway – food for thought.

Parliament is winding down today – as we go into recess tomorrow for a week – and I am having a week’s holiday. I know – shock horror!

Pubcast

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PMQs saw the return of Hague. Still great at this – but it never carried out to the country or upped the Tory vote. Blair was fizzing over the coming debate in the afternoon – a debate on the Terror Laws coming back from the Lords – who had amended the original Bill to take out the offence of ‘glorification’ and several others.

Tony was in a right strop – and posturing – and over-doing it. He always seems to believe that if he appears to be passionate enough – body and soul Blair stake your life on it – somehow it makes it right.

I was leading for the Lib Dems on the second string of amendments – where I was trying to persuade the Government to take out the bit about ‘in the opinion of a constable’. The Government want to leave it to a constable to decide whether material is ‘unlawfully terrorist related’ and should therefore be taken off the net by the Internet Service Provider’.

Scuse – me! We wanted judicial oversight to that decision. Police constables are not trained to make such judgements – and a police officer’s opinion should not be the arbiter of the terror laws. Anyway – we lost the lot. Depressing once again.

The only light-hearted moment was more on yesterday’s comment about ‘gnawing on vitals’ – Stephen Pound came over and sat next to us and the story had got back to him. He took it in good humour!

I must watch what I say under my breath. I must watch what I say under my breath. I must watch what I say under my breath. I must watch what I say under my breath. I must watch what I say under my breath. I must watch what I say under my breath.

Evening drinks with journos for Chris Huhne’s campaign. Chris himself had gone to Cambridge for a hustings. But lots of journos turned up and the vibes are pretty good – but no idea what the ‘armchair’ members are likely to do. Find I am being interviewed by Recess Monkey and Guido Fawkes (not their real names!!) – cannot imagine what will be up on their website. It’s called a pub-cast (as opposed to podcast I assume). Lively duo – but left a recorder running for a very long time in a pub!

Stephen Pound

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Fight my way through stack of Valentine cards on mat – and into work and into the (House of Commons) chamber for the smoking debate. It’s a free vote – and we have all come to whatever conclusion we have come to. I listened to part of the debate and it was interesting – especially the question of liberty to smoke versus liberty to not be damaged by other people’s smoke. And on and on. One impassioned and incredibly witty speech came from Stephen Pound, Labour MP for Ealing. He gave a robust and humorous defence of a human being’s right to go to hell in their own way. At one point he referred to one of his colleague’s request to intervene thus: ‘I feel him gnawing on my vitals’.

Sitting across the chamber on the LibDem benches I muttered under my breath ‘what an awful thought’. The debate went on – and then the votes. I voted for a complete ban as I just think an individual should have the right to do whatever they wish – so long as they don’t harm anyone. In this case – people are being harmed – so that’s that. There was a huge vote in favour of a complete ban.

Later that evening, another Labour member who had been sitting in the chamber came up to me and said, ‘I liked your comment’. ‘What comment?’ I said, ‘I didn’t speak in the smoking debate’. ‘No – not a speech – your comment about Pound’s vitals’. Blush – I did. You wouldn’t have thought it would have carried that far!

Kissing the wrong man

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Today is ID day! It is also the day when our newest Lib Dem MP, Willie Rennie, fresh from our stunning Dunfermline by-election, is introduced to Parliament. There is a wee ceremony – where the new MP is accompanied on each side by colleagues and then walks to the Speaker, bowing heads at particular spots. The new Member is ‘sworn’ in and then shakes hands with Mr Speaker (Michael Martin).

All good stuff.

A little later I went out into the Lib Dem Whips office – and Willie was standing there. So I shook his hand, congratulated him, and he leaned forward for a kiss (peck on both cheeks type). Then I went back into the chamber for the beginning of the ID card debate where I am on the front bench with Alistair Carmichael – our Shadow Home Secretary. However, I see Willie in there.

Trying to explain this to Alistair – half way through the story – I pass him a note saying ‘well – who the hell did I kiss then’? The note came back! ‘Nichol Stephen, Deputy First Minister of Scotland’. That’s what happens if you help an election by making phone calls rather than delivering leaflets with the candidate’s photo all over them …!

Anyway – more to the point – we failed to defeat the government on ID cards. I’m truly sorry – as I believe the scheme is flawed and dangerous and moves us ever nearer to a police state – but without the promised ‘benefits’ of the card. The idea that a database of this size and complexity won’t go wrong is naïve in the extreme. In the end I suspect the costs will mean it becomes untenable. The only danger, as pointed out by one MP, is that if they have already invested billions – even if useless and unworkable – there will be a momentum to continue because of the money down the drain to date.

The key issue – and where Labour broke their manifesto promise – was that in the manifesto it was to be a voluntary scheme. Of course, now they are linking it to passports (and despite a Minister saying you didn’t have to have a passport – I wouldn’t fancy trying to explain to a border guard that I didn’t have one because it was ‘voluntary’). And of course, as 80% of us have passports – that means it will effectively be compulsory for that 80%.

I haven’t the heart to go through the numbers of flaws and dangers ahead if this scheme does go ahead. The usual Labour rebels still voted with us and the Tories, but the swing rebels – the ones that can deliver the final defeat – appeared to have been driven back into their corner by the Labour whips, probably scared rigid after Dunfermline that they had better not rattle Labour’s position any further or their seats could be on the line.

Depressed – I run into Chris Huhne (our future leader I hope) and David Howarth MP and Martin Horwood MP – we are all of us on Team Huhne. So we adjourn to a bar – and Chris and I have a diet coke. The fun never stops!

Care in the community and crime in the community

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Surgery all morning. The last case was quite challenging. Obviously no details – but in overview – a woman came because her son, 13 years old and black, had been stopped by the police and asked to account for what he was doing. He and some friends were described as hiding in the grounds of public building playing hide and seek. Nothing came of it and the police had written to the mother following her complaints to say that they accepted her son’s explanation. End of story. Except – that although there is no police record or criminality etc – the boy’s details will remain on the database as having been stopped and asked to account.

As we went through what had happened, the woman became extremely agitated and before long completely hysterical, sobbing and shouting and weeping and wailing. What was at cause of this was a mixture of indignation that her boy had been stopped at all and that the police shouldn’t be allowed to stop a 13 year old and ask for details (she said they intimidated her son to get them), that the details filled in on the Stop and Search form were inaccurate and that he would be down in police records and this would count against him throughout his life as black boys have the odds stacked against them.

It is one of those situations where I just use enough authority to try and bring calm. I know theoretically people used to say you are meant to slap someone who is hysterical around the face and the shock is supposed to bring them back to their senses. However, I hardly think that a viable or acceptable solution in this day and age! I can just see the headlines. What was the most difficult was that she couldn’t hear anything I was saying. And in fact I thought she had a good point.

It sort of relates to my work on DNA where I am fighting to bring some rationality and fairness to what gets retained by the police when someone is innocent. Likewise, her boy was innocent. She has the letter from the police saying so. But because the police stopped him, his details will remain forever on the database and this may well somehow count against him at a later date and in another context.

So I will pursue this. Because if there is any risk that retained details on an innocent black boy might one day mean that he is prevented from something – a job or a place at university because somehow that information is available – then it should not be retained on record. I will be writing to the police chief to find out what happens to such records, why they keep them and whether there is a particular reason for this boy’s details to be kept. We will see.

There is a whole surveillance society being created at the moment – and we have to be sure that the balance between our civil liberties and catching criminals is not only a fair one – but an agreed one!

From surgery make my way to Highgate Primary School where I am talking to about 30 children from the school council and school newspaper about climate change and recycling – and how lovely it was to be surrounded by enthusiastic youngsters who peppered me with lots of questions and who clearly understood already the need to care about what we use and how we use it and the dangers that faced us.

More fascinating for them – was the fact that this was my old primary school! Neither the head nor the teachers had realised that this was indeed my own Alma Mater! And what memories it sparked. I was describing to Anthony – the teacher in charge of this project – and we didn’t use first names when I was there- that we had had a boys’ playground and a girls’ playground. And he laughed at the idea of gender playgrounds – but that’s how it was. And I remembered all my old teachers’ names. Also, the head was called Mrs Ruby Jobson (I think) and I remember her calling my mother in for a chat because my mother was not a fan of education and thought you should get out into the world and work as soon as possible. She herself had left school at 13 to train under a milliner – which she hated. Anyway – Mrs Johnson called her in and told her that her little girl was quite clever and advised that I sit for a scholarship. My mother reluctantly agreed. But the interesting thing is that we hadn’t done any algebra and apparently you needed to be able to do algebra to sit the exam. So the Headmistress sat me in her own office for six weeks and tutored me personally. I sat the exam. I got the scholarship. And the rest is history. So – an unexpected walk down memory lane!

Then I get a call from a reporter from Radio 4’s Today programme who wants to come and interview me post the fabulous Dunfermline by-election result – as Haringey is one of those councils that is mooted may fall to the Lib Dems. It’s a program to do with what is happening and why in Labour’s heartlands. So he comes to the Three Compasses pub (where my office is upstairs) and I am sitting downstairs having a coffee with my 3 o’clock appointment – Ian Grant – from Open Door.

Open Door is voluntary organisation part funded by state and the rest by raising funds and it has a team of councillors that work with 13 to 24 year olds with mental health problems. One of the projects they are doing, and which they want to promote more widely, is support for parents of teenagers with mental health problems as there is nothing available. The other gap is care for 18 – 21 year olds who often seem to fall between two stools. I am particularly cross about the lack of resource or interest in mental health.

Firstly, neighbour disputes are often mental health based issues and often crime in the community is because care in the community doesn’t work. The police and the prison system end up dealing with what are mental health issues – and of all the under-funding – talking therapies are the lowest in the food chain!! We did actually have an opposition debate this week in Parliament for the first time on mental health for over eight years. And Charles Clarke in his statement yesterday on offenders doing community sentences did mention in passing that the government will be bringing forth legislation in the mental health area. Anyway – the reporter put his tape recorder on and taped a bit of that meeting too.

Then I did the interview – and yes – Labour heartlands will fall (I hope) and he was particularly interested to know how and why I had managed to overturn a Labour lead of 26,000 in two elections. It’s not hard to understand. Haringey Labour ran a one party state where residents were ignored and treated as voting fodder who would vote Labour whatever. Someone like me comes along and says I will listen and care and do things about your everyday life – yes it matters – clean streets, lighting, paving stones and so on. I have always argued that if you can’t keep a street clean how can you run the country? Of course, over the years the Lib Dems have been working in Haringey – we have succeeded in pushing through improvements – on cleaner streets, recycling, school places – all of which Labour ignored until we became a threat, campaigned on these issues and put them in our leaflets. So – there is every chance that we will take the Council in May. Fingers crossed!

As I finish the interview – the CND lobby arrives. I was expecting about 5 of them – but around 12 -15 turn up. We pass an interesting half-hour and each member (virtually) of the lobby presents their case. For the avoidance of confusion – I am against the replacement of Trident with an equivalent system. For the time being, I believe we need a minimum nuclear deterrent. What does that mean? Enough to make anyone think twice about attacking us. I would wish to move to disarmament – but I think that is unrealistic at this moment in time and am not in favour of unilateral disarmament. I want a debate in Parliament on this issue – and indeed a debate in my own party too. I believe the world has changed and is changing and the way war is waged is also changing. The threats of the past are replaced by different threats now. Our defence needs to adapt
to
these changes.

Dunfermline victory

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Politics for activists doesn’t get much better than Thursday night! Question Time with the three would be leaders and then the Dunfermline by-election.

All three performed well – enough – although the atmosphere was a bit subdued in the studio and the lighting was foul – not doing any of them any favours. Dimbleby was actually quite brilliant. He had done his homework and didn’t let those who had been spinning negatively get away with it. I hadn’t been aware of the stuff coming from Simon – but according to Dimbleby it was in his manifesto. Simon denied it – but then Dimbleby said that he was being told it was on Simon’s website as they spoke. It was a killer.

There were some tetchy bits with Ming – who seemed in no mood to be slighted by Dimbleby or anyone in the audience. Twice, I think, he basically said that something had been raised (that he didn’t like) and wanted the opportunity to come back on it – which Dimbleby gave him.

And my boy Huhne – did well – but was even better last week on Question Time. More humour and more human!

But the real joy was to come. The Dumfermline by-election super result. We stormed to victory and how sweet it is in the midst of all our troubles to shine through the mess with the heart and soul of Liberal Democracy triumphing. I don’t know if this signifies that we are better off without a leader at all … !

No – what it demonstrates is that the party and its values and beliefs are what matters and will survive all the slings and arrows that life throws at us.

Hurrah!